Music class with Dan Johnson

The band room is always abuzz with students, everyone is talking, running around trying to get stuff done, or practicing for an upcoming event. There is never a dull moment with Dan Johnson as a teacher. He commends the students on exemplary behavior at a recent band trip to a competition. As Johnson puts it, "this is how you give back to the community, and you make me look good."

Dan Johnson is the director/instructor for the music program at Philomath High School. He teaches the choir, the symphonic band and the theater class. He also directs the plays that students put on for the school as well.

Johnson worked for the Corvallis School District for more than 20 years. When Johnson started teaching at Philomath High School seven years ago, there were only 17 band students and 13 choir students. Today there are around 85 band students and 30 choir students.

The band and choir have been involved in multiple competitions ranging around Oregon, California and Seattle. They have received multiple awards for first place, second place for excellence and performance.

He has spent thousands of dollars and numerous hours creating a multiple award winning music program. The students always enjoy being around Johnson, not just for his humor but also for his generosity.

"He is very helpful and knowledgeable about anything musical," says Brianna Brouwer, a senior band member at Philomath High School this year. "He is always funny but knows when to be serious and get down to business. He does everything to make sure we succeed."

Debbie Johnson, Dan's wife, agrees that Johnson is a generous person when it comes to his job and his students. "He'll even take instruments down to Gracewinds and get them fixed as soon as possible," she said, "he doesn't want to turn anyone away."

Johnson's teaching methods always seem to have certain uniqueness to them. He likes to take the students around the campus to different areas to test out different sounds and acoustics.

For the choir, he usually takes them to the pool area where the sound resonates like a church cathedral atmosphere. He likes to call them mini field trips just to get the students of the classroom once in a while. The students always look forward to showing off the music they have been working on too.

"Do I have to do this?" Johnson said, "No. We can live with what we have, but it sure limits what we can do. For me, it's important for the kids to be able to do what they need to be successful."

While directing the band and choir at Philomath High School, Johnson also makes large contributions to the music program. His latest contribution could have the biggest impact on the music program.

Last November in 2010, Johnson and many of his students had come together to renovate the school’s small music room, adding about 440 square feet of space, unfortunately the renovation did not last long. This year the whole school is being torn down and remodeled due to a voter-approved construction bond.

Johnson also applied for and received several grants that helped with the cost of the project. He likes to joke that he does not want his wife, Debbie Johnson, to know exactly how much money he has poured into the PHS program throughout the years, or that he has simply lost track.

Truthfully Johnson does not like to take all the credit for the renovations because a lot of the students had helped with the project.

"He's always so dedicated to everything in his life," says Kyle Thrall, a 2010 graduate of Philomath High School. "His wife, his kids, his students. This is just the latest example, he's put so much time into the program."

Q&A with Dan Johnson:

• What made you get involved with both music and the high school?

My old band teacher had actually been on my back a lot about being a musician. He saw I had a lot of potential as a tenor vocalist. I have always found music to be a joy. I got my degree at George Fox University and I knew that I wanted to be a director. And here I am now.

• I understand a new school is being built with a bigger music department, what are your feelings about this?

Yes, we finally are getting a bigger music division at school. I'm excited for it, however the process is a little slow, with students being in one place or another, it’s hard to get things done whenever thing is not in one place. However once it’s done I have a feeling things will be smoother and we will be back to being loud.

• Is there anything else you would like to pursue besides teaching that involves music?

Right now, no, I enjoy teaching and I enjoy the students. Aside from retiring I don't see myself doing anything else and I am completely fine with that. I have my hands full with these little hooligans as is.

• Who is one musician/composer/director that inspires or has inspired you?

I have a lot of musicians I enjoy to hear occasionally. I find it hard to just listen to music without critiquing it to death. That's just how I evaluate music in general, I hear the different intervals in notes, and notice different phrasing that the composer uses.

• What is the greatest thing about teaching music?

I think watching how the students grow with what they learn each year. It’s always interesting to see how the students interact with each other. Over the years I see that there are always one or two students that take charge of their own sections and lay down the law.

_________________________

At A Glance:

Come support the PHS music department:

Who: Philomath High School Symphony

What: OWC Band Showcase

Where: Cascade High School

When: November 16th, 1:00pm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. Dan Johnson was born Daniel Johnson but is known to his students as "Dan," "Johnson," or "Dr. J."

2. Three degrees in music: BA Music - Willamette University, M.Ed. - Western Oregon University, Ed.D - George Fox University

3. Favorite Disney character: Mickey Mouse

4. Lives in Philomath, Oregon with his three kids and wife.

How to kick the winter blues

As we all know the days are getting shorter, the temperature is dropping, and the sun is constantly hiding behind an army of clouds. Many people are finding themselves down in the dumps and a little more tired than usual.

Sarah Smith, 25 years old and a college student at LBCC says she has dealt with mild seasonal depression for a few years and that it had started when she became older. She said that the weather can play a big part in feeling down and gloomy.

"It's just like regular depression, you don't want to do anything and you don't really want to be around anyone. It's difficult to deal with sometimes but thankfully I have people who are aware of it and support me."

Dr. David Grube, of Philomath Family Medicine, states that at one point or another every can get seasonal depression, however for some people it is more intense and lasts longer.

"Seasonal depression deals with an imbalance of brain chemicals, but it also involves shift changes like the time change we just had. It gets darker outside faster and there isn't as much sunlight," said Grube.

Grube says that people with SAD should be watched over more intently because sometimes it can causes problems such as suicidal thoughts.

"It's shown though, that people with seasonal affective disorder feel better after exposure to bright light," said Grube.

According to research the disorder is related to insufficient light which makes the pineal gland located in the brain think its dark outside. The pineal gland then secretes a hormone called melatonin which has sedative properties.

An article by OHSU (Oregon Health and Science University) said that SAD usually occurs during adulthood and is four times more likely to affect women than men.

Whether you have the full throttle of SAD, or even just a mild case of the pesky winter blues, here are a few natural tips to help bring a spring back to your step.

1. Get outside, bundle up and take a brisk walk outdoors during your lunch break or after work to get some sunlight.

2. Try some light therapy, invest in a "seasonal light box." It goes on the side of your bed, or even get one for your night stand, it mimics the suns rise a little earlier in the comfort of your own bed.

3. Keep your intake of fruit and vegetables up throughout the winter period, and maintain a healthy intake of complex carbohydrates such as wholegrain rice, pasta and bread.

4. Regular exercise produces endorphins. Physical workouts can help improve sleep and muscle tension. If it helps, try moving your workout so that it takes place during the few daylight hours that we have.

5. And finally, laugh it up! Socializing is easy and is one of the best ways to help beat SAD. Meet up with friends on a regular basis, and don't sit at home being a couch potato. You may find yourself changing your attitude to winter.

By following these simple steps, you will have a much easier time staying happy and active, and keeping that depression at bay.

_________________________________

At a glance:

SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

5 ways to beat the winter blues

Dr. David Grube, MD.

Philomath Family Medicine:

1219 Applegate St.

Philomath OR, 97370

Ph. 541.929.2293

Celebrating Diversity on campus

The second annual Diversity Day at LBCC had the campus abuzz.

It's a time when the college recognizes the many different groups and clubs that are offered. It is a great event to learn about the diverse types of people that organize clubs and have ways to get involved. It was quite the scene, students everywhere at the booths, musical circles with guitars and singing, even Rocky the Roadrunner made an appearance.

There was a wide range of clubs at the event, from anti-poverty and hunger (advocacy groups) to students to the leadership counselors. They all came out to persuade newcomers. Among the many were the LGBT Club, Dance Club even the Learning Center on campus had a booth out.

This year Diversity Day was held in the LBCC courtyard on Wednesday, October 19th. Every Wednesday the clubs come out to the public and try to recruit more students to join clubs around the campus.

Diversity Day is coordinated by mainly two LBCC attending students including the student body president, Ricky Zipp and Megan Rivas, the student leader at D.A.C. (Diversity Achievement Center).

Zipp has been involved with Diversity Day on campus for 2 years and is still going strong. He said that diversity is basically any one single attribute from how you dress, religion, or orientation.

Rivas says she enjoys the whole experience from the different clubs, booths and demo graphical aspect. The one thing she and Zipp always looks forward to is the field of flags. However some people get agitated by the flags for what they represent.

"Some people just get uncomfortable with it," said Rivas, "but you have to see the bad sometimes."

The field of flags (below) has been around since spring of last year. The field is a representation of the holocaust victims and each color represents a different groups such as other genocides.

So far there are 2,848 flags in the field. Each flag portrays 20,000 souls lost. The LBCC population is less than one flag.

The Student Union had a booth set up to get students more involved. The Ambassador team leader for the Student Union, Spike Keenan and student Holly Hine, had a table set up to get people involved in a fun game called, "Diversity Hunt."

"It gets the students involved and engaged" said Keenan, "we embrace diversity in all dimensions, clubs and departments."

Diversity Hunt is like a small scavenger hunt for the students to go around looking for certain clubs to get a stamp on a pamphlet.

The students ask questions about the club,. The clubs at Diversity Day are basically just trying to get students to learn more about the clubs that are offered in a fun easy way.

Each club has a pamphlet that includes the names of all the clubs that are in the courtyard. They hand them out to students and the students have to ask one to two questions about the club in order to receive a stamp in the pamphlet in a space where the club name appears. Once they have all the clubs marked off they have a chance to win a prize in a drawing.

"The students and staff are always excited, and the table booth people even dress in their represented clubs," said Hine.

Diversity Day was quite the success and continues to grow every year. Keenan said the best way to get involved is to join a club or to even make one yourself.

______________________________

At a glance:

To find out more about how to start your own club:

LBCC D.A.C.

Forum Building 220

Mon. - Fri. 9am-3pm

541.917.4461

For a list of clubs available on campus visit the following website:

http://www.linnbenton.edu/go/clubs

Join a club and be part of Diversity Day!

Diversity Day

LBCC campus

Students and Clubs

Oct. 19, 2011

A peek into Edna Buchanan

Edna Buchanan - Author
Charlie Rose - Interviewer and broadcast journalis
Author and reporter Edna Buchanan discusses with Charlie Rose about her 4th new installment on her Britt Montero book series.

In a 1996 interview with Charlie Rose, the famous fiction and non-fiction writer, Edna Buchanan discusses walking the police beat, her life in Miami, and her new upcoming book titled, Act of Betrayal. Buchanan had ended her career writing for the Miami Harold and began writing books about the murders and crimes she covered as a reporter.

Buchanan had actually found work at a small community newspaper before becoming a reporter for the herald. Later once she started writing for the Miami Herald newspaper, Buchanan talked about her reporting days with the law and how being close to police work was beneficial to cracking a story.

"No better creature on earth than a good cop," says Buchanan, "Its not just a job to them, its their life."

She has had a couple experiences working with police. She has covered more than 5,000 murder stories and has even married a policeman before.

Before becoming heavily involved in reporting murder stories and walking the police beat in Miami, Florida, Buchanan grew up in Patterson, New Jersey and moved to Florida in 1961 with her mother.

"The moment I saw Miami, it felt like I was coming home" says Buchanan, "I felt like I belonged here." She said how the feeling was like going from black and white movie to all of a sudden being in technicolor.

Buchanan also got a chance to talk briefly about her 4th installment in her fiction book series. Act of Betrayal involves a character named Britt Montero.

The story is about a character named Britt who reports a story about a missing teenager. In a long string of events, Britt uncovers a frightening pattern of identical cases. Many similar profiled boys start to vanish without a trace, its up to Britt to find out who and why.

The story takes place in Miami, Florida, a lot of Buchanan's books take place in Miami for the setting. "Miami is the main character in all my books," says Buchanan. She also says her character, Britt Montero, is who she would like to be.

"She's a woman of action, she is a role model for me."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
At A Glance:
Edna BuchananEdna's new book "Act of Betrayal"
February 3rd, 1996

To inform the public of her new book and her past experiences as a news reporter for the Miami Herald.

So You Think We Can Dance?

How many people do you think like to dance? A couple maybe, thousands, millions of people? Maybe not out in public, or out in the club, maybe home alone in your room blasting 80's music in boxers and a tank top like Tom Cruise.

The students at LBCC are finding ways to express themselves through dance at the LBCC dance program. Though it may be smaller than dance other programs, students get to experience dance with unique instructors and talented peers.

Rachael Lehman-Arana, who is 19 years old of Albany, is in her second term at LBCC. She has only taken one term of dance at the college, but once was enough to get her even more interested in the experience.

“It was fun,” says Lehman-Arana, “The warm ups were relaxed, and the instructor always pushed you to do more.”

Lehman-Arana has had some previous dance/cheer leading experience so she took some Hip-Hop classes. She mentioned to me that she had wished there were a few more offered classes in a wider range of levels with different dances. She also commented on the instructor of the dance program.

“She's a very fun instructor and very unique. She always gave you positive encouragement," says Lehman-Arana.

Another addition to the dance classes is the head instructor at LBCC. Katherine Sanders (Above) of Albany, is the the main instructor of the dance classes at LBCC. Katherine mentioned how she loved every aspect of dance. She talked about what dance meant to her and why she enjoys it so much.

She has been teaching dance for about 21 years. It will be her 5^th year teaching dance at Linn-Benton in January. She did mention that one thing that she wishes the campus had was an actual program for dance.

“It's not exactly a program, just activities like a P.E. Class. You can't really move forward, you can have the opportunity but its hard to move forward and advance on.” says Sanders.

There are a lot of students here who enjoy dance and love taking the classes. However the budget for another program is not available at the moment.

According to the LBCC activites database the fall term of last year, the enrollment count was about 85-90 students in the class, this fall with less dance classes offered, the enrollment count is now around 50 students.

In 2012 during the fall and winter terms there will be dance classes offered such as Hip-Hop, Contemporary and Jazz.

Fortunately, Sanders has made a dance club for LBCC for anyone that enjoys dancing to come and join. She started the club as an instructor and did the choreography and organization.

This year she is”passing the torch” as she says to the students, and have it more student run. Many students feel that there needs to be a more official dance program offered at Linn-Benton Community College

Most people that know about dance find it to be a passion, an escape and a way to let your emotions go crazy. Dance is the type of art and activity, that lets people express themselves in a such way that the passion is overwhelming.

The students say dance classes are fun and everyone is around people who share the same respect for the art. People can be themselves and just do what they love and dance and express themselves in one big emotion.

According to an article by the Fired Up Dance Academy, dancing is also a great way to build up strength and also provides insight to the appreciation for dance. It also offers different links to find colleges and univerisities that offer dance to the students.

At LBCC (Linn-Benton Community College) many students participate in the dance program. There are some thoughts on the fact that dance classes are only offered twice a year. Many students here on campus take the dance classes that are offered here.

The following classes are offered here: Ballet, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and all of them range from beginning level techniques to advanced techniques.

“There's so much to say with dance, its something that makes you feel connected mentally, emotionally and spiritually. There's just a lot of joy," says Sanders.

If you would like to become part of the dance program and/or the dance club at LBCC, visit Sanders's instructor website or email her for more information about the dance programs.

Sanders also owns her own dance studio in Corvallis, Oregon, called Downtown Dance Corvallis.She offers dance classes of all types ranging from hip hop, to contemporary, and jazz. More information can be found on the website or give her a call to find out about the offered classes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At a glance:

Become a dancer!

Downtown Dance Corvallis

223 NW 2nd St.

Corvallis, OR 97330

Phone. 541.829.0070

If interested at all, come and dance your heart out.

LBCC Dance Program

LBCC Activities Center

To bring more attention to the offered dance classes and dance clubs at Linn-Benton Community College.

Websites involved: linnbenton.edu, firedupdanceacademy.com, downtowndancecorvallis.com

Setting a Foundation

After nearly four decades at LBCC, assisting the Nursing Program and being part of the Foundation on campus, Paulette Myers will be retiring at the end of November.

Paulette Myers, is the Coordinator of the LBCC foundation at Linn-Benton Community College. She has been a working staff member for 37 year.

The Foundation is an organization that coordinates donations to the college that include money, property, instructional equipment and materials that in turn provides more for the students. It has been a working establishment since 1972.

The Foundation also manages student scholarships, grants and loans, it has also helped with new installments on campus and remodeling of buildings such as White Oak hall.

"It really is like a full circle," says Myers, "you put the event on, raise the money and then give it out to the students and the college."

After graduating high school, Myers had been a secretary work study at LBCC for one year where she got a glance at what she wanted for a future career.

Myers worked for about 6 months before finding an open position available at the college and in 1974 Myers became Secretary for Nursing which then evolved into being the Health Occupations Program Assistant for which she had been for 27 years.

In 2000, Myers was referred to a job opening at the Foundation by the former president of Administration at LBCC, Jon Carnahan. Her job at the foundation now is planning events, parties, dinners and fundraising events.

"I was sort of known as the party giver" says Myers, "it was just the perfect job to move to, I love to put on parties.

Ann Adams, the Director for Information services has been working with Myers for quite some time now.

"She is an excellent employee," says Adams, "She is the heart and soul of the foundation, and she's always positive."

Adams says that Myers always knows who to check with for information, and always follows through with what she says she's going to do. Adams says that they call her the "party planner."

Adams has been a working staff member for 24 years, she started working at Linn-Benton Community College in 1974.

Myers received the Mario Pastega Outstanding Classified Employee Award in 2007. An award that is given out every year in the fall to one outstanding faculty member and one classified staff member. She had received the award which was a check for $1,000. Myers says that it was quite an honor.

Myers said that the best way to help out with the Foundation and to get involved is to participate in the Annual Fund Drive on campus for the staff and students to get involved. There is also an off-campus Fund Drive as well.

"Just from the staff we get over $60,000 a year towards the Foundation," says Myers. "It’s one of the best ways to get involved."

At the end of November of 2011, Myers will be retiring. She says that she plans to work part time for the college until they can find a new person to fill her spot in the Foundation.

"This really is a great place to be," says Myers, "it’s like one big family."

______________________________________________

At a glance:

Paulette Myers

Coordinator for the Foundation

Worked at LBCC for 37 years

Email: myersp@linnbenton.edu

Want to make a donation? Contact the Foundation:

The Foundation

6500 Pacific Boulevard SW

Albany, OR 97321

Phone: 541.917.4209

Website links:

www.linnbenton.edu/go/foundation
http://www.linnbenton.edu/go/foundation/paver-project

Related articles:
http://po.linnbenton.edu/communicator/0510Insider.pdf