ScholarWorks @ SeattleU (Seattle University)

Ruiz, Kevin

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
12-4-2024 
2024-12-04 When The Lights Come On 
Kevin Ruiz 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • December 4, 2024 • https://seattlespectator.com/2024/12/04/when-the-
lights-come-on/
When The Lights Come On
Kevin Ruiz, Volunteer Reporter 
In 2015, three Seattle University faculty members by
the name of Henry Louie, Steve Sabia and Jenna
Isakson founded KiloWatts for Humanity (KWH). The
non-profit organization provides first-time access to
electrification where it is needed most. The KWH
journey started as a small project in Zambia and
Kenya. 
“We had been working primarily in Zambia but other
places like Kenya, providing electricity, mostly small
scale, using some solar, wind, and even hand cranking
generators,” Louie, co-founder and president of KWH,
said.
KWH worked under the Seattle U umbrella for the
initial phase of their launch, though eventually, these
projects became too large and complex leading KWH to
branch out on their own.
“We really have done nothing but grow since. In 2015,
we did our first project in a community called Filibaba,
Zambia. We feel that we have a great methodology and
approach to how we do things.” 
While KWH brings a focus of electricity to these
communities, a big part of the work focuses on
community building. “We talk about how we can add to
the work they’re doing there. We talk about programs,
what energy kiosks are, but really to think how that fits with the needs of the community,” Mike Buffo, secretary for
KWH, said. 
In Cheeba, Zambia, the kiosk, which was built in 2019, now employs two people and is currently owned by the Lower
Kafue Women’s group. The kiosk offers cell phone charging stations, a grocery store and a barbershop.
Austin Harper
Community members of Nsalali, Zambia, send their
greetings to the United States. Your message made it!
(Henry Louie)
“People want to have barbershops, hair salons, sewing machines, chicken incubation, carpentry and metal fabrication
shops,” Louie said, speaking to the demand for electricity in these areas. “These are the services that seem to work well
and are in high demand in these communities.”
On top of that the kiosks help bring light to young students who were previously using toxic kerosene lamps to do
homework. A recent study by the United Nations showed that 1.18 billion people suffer from energy poverty, an
afterthought here in the United States.
“The funnest moment is when the lights come on,” Louie said. “It’s where there hadn’t been light before, if you were there
the day before and at night, it’s dark. Some people have candles or phone flashlights but it is dark in a way that coming
from a city, you don’t appreciate that, then to see the lights there, it’s amazing.”
From Seattle to Zambia, KWH has helped connect people. Volunteer and Director of Study Abroad at Seattle U Kirsti
Ruud traveled to Zambia in the summer of 2024. Upon arriving, Ruud was able to connect with a women-led focus
group. 
“This group of women had already received a kiosk, and Caritas Monze facilitated a focus group with the women to hear
about their life, to learn more about them and what’s important to their community,” Ruud said. “There is collective
energy in the group meetings, that is almost indescribable. It’s so different from what I experience here in the United
States. There is a collective mentality.” 
KWH is a volunteer-run organization, and all members are volunteers, including Louie and Buffo. This is just one of the
many challenges that KWH is currently facing, though the biggest one is addressing the massive need for electricity in
these regions. 
“We have quite a lineup of pipeline communities to work with. There’s annual fundraising needs, and then volunteer
capacity. It’s a large organizational project for all parties involved,” Buffo said. 
Yet, KWH continues to strive to be intentional about implementing kiosks with the funds that are available.
“We do work when it’s meaningful and needed, not because we’re cranking a wheel and it’s just churning out,” Louie said.
“We’re going to be thoughtful and intentional. We can go at a pace that’s appropriate, not only for us, but for
communities.”
While the work of KWH is community-centered, Louie and Buffo recognize that it can be seen as though the
organization is taking a “savior” approach. The collaboration with community organizers is something that was
addressed right away for volunteers.
“In our first orientation, it was very comprehensive, it included not just health, and safety considerations, but also just
the philosophy and ethos of KWH, like even naming the need to combat white saviorism, and that was very important to
everyone,” Ruud said. 
KWH has now helped build six solar kiosks in different communities across Zambia and Kenya. When the kiosks are
complete, it becomes a celebration of community. 
“When they turn on the lights at night, and you can see the look on everyone’s face. That moment is pretty special.
Things are different in this community from this day forward,” Louie said. 
Louie hopes this work inspires people to make a difference in the world. 
“You know you can chase the dollars, but really, at the end of your life when you’re reflecting on what you’ve done, I think
you want to be able to say I really work to try to make people’s lives better, to try to make this world a better place. Think
about the impact for the job that you choose,” he said.
KWH is currently working on the construction of two more kiosks in Hambelele and Dengeza in Zambia, and will host
their annual fundraiser in the spring of 2025. 


English

2024-12-04 When The Lights Come On

El-Sherbeeny, Abdullah

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
12-4-2024 
2024-12-04 Seattle University Shows Out as a Resource During 
Bomb Cyclone 
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
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university-shows-out-as-a-resource-during-bomb-cyclone/
Seattle University Shows Out
as a Resource During Bomb
Cyclone
Abdullah El-Sherbeeny, Staff Reporter
People stranded in the dark, homes without power
and two lives lost were just a few of the things that
the bomb cyclone brought to Western Washington
two weeks ago. The cyclone, which hit California,
Oregon and Washington, left many homes on its path
without power. 
In total, there were two storms, the first lasting Nov.
19 to 20 and the second smaller one hitting the state
Nov. 22. The first cyclone killed much of Western
Washington’s power, creating outages that lasted for
four days, between Nov 19 and 22. At its peak, the
bomb cyclone affected around 700,000 households
on the West Coast.  
Qasim Ali, an alumnus of Seattle University who lives
in Redmond and was affected by the storm, shared his experience and that of his family during the storm. 
“My family’s lived in Redmond since the mid-90s, and this is the longest we’ve been without power from our power
company in my lifetime and my family’s time on the West Coast. We were out of power from Tuesday night to Sunday
afternoon,” Ali said.
Luckily, Ali’s family was one of the few who could rely on power generators. He said they had to make multiple trips in
harsh conditions to refill the generator daily until the power returned. 
Ali shared the aftermath of the first hit by the hurricane when he went to get gas with his father.
 “We counted probably five to six down trees just driving around the Redmond-Bellevue area. There were massive trees
uprooted right on the sides of roads,” Ali said. “I remember, near Redmond Elementary, there was a huge tree at
Anderson Park that had fallen across the street, like there were entire streets blocked.” 
Annabelle DeGuzman-Carino
Yonathan Maaza, a second-year business analytics major who lives in Auburn, said that his family had to live off of a
small electrical CAT battery, that was just enough to turn the lights on in their house during the power outage.
“We charged it up, and we [used] that for lighting, and we also [used] candles to just move around the house,” Maaza said.
Thanks to Seattle U campus resources, other obstacles Maaza faced, such as charging his phone and getting cell and Wi-
Fi service, were solved. 
“I just kind of lived off of Seattle because it had electricity, and that’s how I charged my phone. That’s how I did my
homework. It was all in Seattle,” Maaza stated. “I just kind of stayed in the library and the student center, just charging
my phone using the internet for day-to-day uses.”
Maaza wasn’t the only student relying on Seattle U as a central resource during this trying time. Nadeen Radi, a fourth-
year finance major living in Covington, talked about how she also used campus for most of the power outage. 
Radi stayed at her friend’s place in the Yobi campus apartments and used the Student Center Commuter Link. She would
then return to her home in Covington and return to campus to bring items to stay at her friend’s place. 
“I was eating the free lunches at the commuter link. It was really helpful because I packed lunch from home. Since all the
food went bad because our fridge didn’t have power and nothing was working, I had no food to eat, and I can’t afford to
buy food for a whole week,” Radi said. 
Additionally, Radi talked about how she spent most of her time in the library working on her assignments. She charged
all of her equipment while in the library so that she could use it if she ever needed to go home. 
The bomb cyclone left much of Western Washington with serious damage, affecting families in its wake. Despite the
devastation, the storm has shown us that there will always be support from family members or the Seattle U campus. 


2024-12-04 Seattle University Shows Out as a Resource During Bomb Cyclone

MAGIS, Editors of

MAGIS Volume 9 Entire Volume

Honoring Jeremy Stringer: Reflections on Carin

Stringer, Jeremy

MAGIS 
Volume 9 Issue 1 Article 8 
2015 
So You Want to Work With Students 
Jeremy Stringer 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis 
Recommended Citation 
Stringer, Jeremy (2015) "So You Want to Work With Students," MAGIS: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 8. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis/vol9/iss1/8 
This Reflection is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in MAGIS by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
SO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH STUDENTS                  11 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
 
So You Want to Work With Students…  
 
Jeremy Stringer, PhD, Seattle University 
 
 
During my career, I have had many 
opportunities to interview students for student 
leadership roles, and, since I became a faculty 
member, for graduate school. A common question 
they would be asked is, “Why do you want this 
position?” or “Why do you want to go to graduate 
school in student affairs?” Probably the most 
common answer I have received over the years is, 
“I want to work with students.” 
Wanting to work with students is a good 
starting place for anyone aspiring to a job (or 
even a career) in higher education. But for 
aspiring student affairs educators, it means 
something a little deeper than it might for an 
undergraduate applying to be an orientation 
leader. Let me illustrate by offering a few 
vignettes from my experience as a student affairs 
educator. 
VIGNETTE #1 
At one university where I worked, I was 
honored to be considered a mentor by the 
Interfraternity Council president. We seemed to 
have a lot in common: We both believed in the 
value of developing strong leaders in fraternities, 
in eradicating hazing in all its forms, and in trying 
to penetrate the culture of alcohol abuse so 
common in many fraternities. We regularly went 
to lunch together. This student leader was 
instrumental in organizing the annual Alcohol 
Awareness Week at the university. In the spring, 
he and some other student leaders were 
photographed for the cover of the student 
newspaper; they were posed next to a demolished 
car that had been hit by a drunk driver. The 
symbolic message was clear: don’t drink and drive.  
About two weeks later, this promising student 
was dead. What happened? He and some 
fraternity brothers had driven to Mexico, gone to 
a notorious cantina, and gotten very, very drunk. 
Instead of doing what I know he knew he should 
do, he got behind the wheel of his car and tried to 
drive home. Tragically, he drove his car off a cliff 
and he and everyone with him was killed.  
No words can describe the devastation I felt 
about this student’s death. He wasn’t just another 
student. He got it! He knew better than to drink 
and drive. But he did it anyway. I thought, what if 
I had probed deeper into his declared values and 
his behaviors? What could I have said or done in 
our regular lunches together that might have kept 
him from making such a fatal mistake? If I 
couldn’t prevent this student’s death, what was 
the point in working with any students? 
VIGNETTE #2 
I had the great privilege of sailing as dean of 
students aboard the Semester at Sea. The 
Semester at Sea has a very strict policy against the 
use of drugs. Whether a student is at sea or in 
port, drug use (including marijuana) is an 
infraction with an automatic sanction: getting 
sent home. The person responsible for sending 
students home is the dean of students. 
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SO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH STUDENTS                  12 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
On my voyage, due to the discovery of heroin 
on board fairly early in the voyage, we initiated 
some random drug testing. The test we employed 
was a urine test. This test can reveal the presence 
of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. A 
weakness of this test is its inability to detect how 
long marijuana has been in a subject’s system. 
For regular marijuana users, it can range from a 
week to over 100 days, depending on many 
factors. So using the results of this test to suspend 
students requires something in addition to 
reading the results: it requires professional 
judgment.  
When two students tested positive for 
marijuana, I interviewed them both. My approach 
was fairly simple. If they admitted to using 
marijuana on the voyage, I would have no choice 
but to send them home. They knew this. If they 
had another explanation for the positive test 
result, I would take that into consideration and 
try to determine the right thing to do.  
Even knowing the consequences, Student A 
admitted right away he had smoked marijuana on 
the voyage. Student B said he had been a frequent 
marijuana smoker before the voyage, and that 
must be why the drug was still in his system since 
he had not used it since the voyage began (nearly 
three months earlier). I strongly suspected 
Student B was lying. If I chose to believe him, I 
was faced with the prospect of suspending a 
student who gave me an honest answer while 
keeping the student who had not. You want to 
work with students? What would you do? 
 
 
 
VIGNETTE #3 
Over the course of my career as a faculty 
member, I have learned a lot about many of my 
students. I have been trusted with the 
information that some have been in abusive 
relationships, that some have attempted suicide, 
that some have been treated for addiction, and 
many other confidences. Sometimes I hear from 
students that they feel out of place in our master’s 
program. Why do they think this? Sometimes 
students feel academically unprepared. 
Sometimes they are not sure they really want to 
work in higher education. But a reason I have 
often heard over the years is one I have a harder 
time with: other students have made them feel 
unwelcome. Unwelcome? Students in a student 
affairs preparation program have made other 
students feel unwelcome? 
Shouldn’t student affairs be a field where all 
are welcomed? Why, then, do some students feel 
they can make hurtful comments about those 
with different orientations or who have made 
different life choices? At Seattle University I think 
many would be quick to protest if they overheard 
hurtful comments made about someone just 
because that person was gay, or Black, or 
undocumented. Yet sometimes those very 
sensitive people participate in making or 
tolerating hurtful comments about evangelical 
Christians, or Catholics, or Veterans, or fraternity 
members, or politically conservative students. I 
have heard this in class, and other students rarely 
call out the perpetrators. When budding student 
affairs educators make disparaging comments 
about another person solely because of an aspect 
of their identity or orientation (say, a Veteran or a 
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SO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH STUDENTS                  13 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
political conservative), isn’t that a form of 
oppression? Students (and others on college 
campuses) shouldn’t have to be silent about some 
portion of their identity to avoid being 
marginalized. Shouldn’t we be curious about and 
respectful of those with different worldviews from 
our own? You want to work with students? Even 
those who are different from you? 
 
These vignettes and other experiences I have 
had as an educator reflect my experience, but they 
also preview dilemmas our SDA graduates will 
face. They offer perspective on the complexity of 
our work with students. Working with students is 
not always fun. And it can be messy.  
But working with students is important. 
Traditional higher education is ripe with 
developmental opportunities. It is likely that 
newer forms of education, such as online 
programs, will carry the same potential for 
individual development, though student affairs as 
a profession has been slow to stake a claim to its 
role in the development of wholly online students.  
For individual student affairs educators, being 
in an environment conducive to student 
development does not assure that they will be 
active contributors to the growth of any students. 
To the surprise of some, student affairs is real 
work, and sometimes discouraging. For those that 
are committed to working in this profession, here 
are some suggestions for making a career out of 
working with students and, on occasion, making 
a lasting difference in their lives. 
1. Master the Knowledge Base 
The student affairs profession has a rich 
knowledge base. Professionals who attend a 
quality student affairs preparation program, such 
as Seattle University’s, have a head start on 
understanding what it is and how to apply it when 
working with students.  
2. Commit to Lifelong Learning  
What you learn in graduate school is not 
sufficient to last for a career. Professionals must 
commit to lifelong learning. Fortunately, our field 
has numerous valuable professional development 
opportunities, many of which are inexpensive and 
easy to access. But more important than the 
available opportunities is the attitude that true 
professionals have to learn as much as they can to 
be the best they can. 
3. Be Authentic 
There is no substitute for authenticity when 
working with students. Being genuine in your 
response to them, including how you feel about 
life decisions they make, and your honest 
response to campus events, gives you and your 
work validity. And always remember the impact 
that your words and actions have for students. 
4. Be Open to Change 
When George McClellan and I were writing 
the epilogue to the third edition of The Handbook 
of Student Affairs Administration, we went back 
and reviewed all of the chapters for themes. The 
metatheme of the chapters was change. There are 
profound changes in the larger milieu of higher 
education, including fiscal pressures, public 
demand for accountability, and an increased 
awareness of the importance of proper handling 
of allegations of sexual assault. Students and their 
issues are definitely not the same as they were 
when I began my career. Our campuses are more 
diverse. Technology is central to student lives.  
3
Stringer: So You Want to Work With Students
Published by ScholarWorks @ SeattleU, 2015
SO YOU WANT TO WORK WITH STUDENTS                  14 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
Students (as a group) are more stressed, and 
many have serious mental health concerns. Our 
understanding of how to work with students must 
continue to evolve as our students and the 
environments in which they are educated change.  
5. Do the Right Thing 
It can be argued that the purpose of the 
student affairs profession is educating the whole 
person. The Jesuit value of cura personalis (care 
of the person) should be the moral underpinning 
of our work with students. Student affairs 
educators who enter the profession today will 
encounter complex situations. Moral dilemmas 
are not just theoretical. Professionals must have a 
grounding in the ethical principles of their 
profession and have the courage to put them into 
practice. Integral to this is a person’s individual 
conscience. It sometimes takes extraordinary 
courage to follow your conscience, and doing so 
may involve personal risks. But if you do the right 
thing when working with students you will always 
sleep better than if you don’t. 
6. Love the Students 
Students can be fun to work with, but they can 
also be challenging. In the course of your career, 
students will surprise you with their generosity, 
humanity, and goodness. They will make you 
proud. And, occasionally, you will be 
disappointed in them. But remember that you are 
an educator, that you are in higher education for a 
purpose, and that if the road was always easy for 
them and for you, you would not be needed. 
Students need to know that you care and that you 
will be there for them no matter what. If you love 
the students, you will love your work, and if you 
love your work, you will have a career in working 
with students, not just a job. 
 
Looking back on my career, I have many 
extraordinary memories of my work with 
students. The rewards of being a student affairs 
educator always outweighed challenges such as 
those illustrated in the three vignettes above. So, 
if you say you want to work with students…I say, 
congratulations! The student affairs profession 
needs good people. I hope you enjoy it half as 
much as I have. 
 
Jeremy Stringer, PhD, is the founder of the 
Student Development Administration master’s degree 
program at Seattle University. A full professor in the 
College of Education, he is retiring at the end of the 
2014-15 academic year. 
Jeremy received his master’s degree in English 
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his 
doctorate in Educational Administration from the 
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been a vice 
president of student affairs, an associate provost, 
both an academic and student affairs department 
chair, and has led a university-wide strategic 
planning process. He served as the national chair of 
the Faculty Fellows of NASPA: Student Affairs 
Administrators in Higher Education. He is co-editor 
of one of the profession’s leading textbooks, The 
Handbook of Student Affairs Administration (3rd ed.), 
and is currently working on the fourth edition. 
Jeremy is married to his wife, Susan, and has 
three daughters (all college graduates). He is 
interested in global education and international 
travel and has circumnavigated the globe as dean of 
students on the Semester at Sea. He is the owner of a 
fantasy baseball team, a devoted fan of the Seattle 
Mariners, a modern art collector, and a film buff. 
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So You Want to Work With Students

This reflection piece represents the culmination of my quarter-long exploration of the concept of empathy as it relates to my work within student affairs. Empathy is examined through the lens of my experiences as a college student and as an academic advisor at Bellevue College. The definition of empathy and its challenges and implications for use within academic advising are briefly discussed. This piece was adapted from a workshop that I presented at a department retreat in December 2014

Kolby, Emily B

MAGIS 
Volume 9 Issue 1 Article 16 
2015 
Empathetic Moments: A Student Affairs Reflection 
Emily B. Kolby 
Bellevue College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis 
Recommended Citation 
Kolby, Emily B. (2015) "Empathetic Moments: A Student Affairs Reflection," MAGIS: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 
16. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis/vol9/iss1/16 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in MAGIS by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
EMPATHETIC MOMENTS: A STUDENT AFFAIRS REFLECTION                 67 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
 
Empathetic Moments: A Student Affairs Reflection 
 
Emily B. Kolby, Bellevue College 
 
This reflection piece represents the culmination of my quarter-long 
exploration of the concept of empathy as it relates to my work within 
student affairs.  Empathy is examined through the lens of my experiences as 
a college student and as an academic advisor at Bellevue College.  The 
definition of empathy and its challenges and implications for use within 
academic advising are briefly discussed.  This piece was adapted from a 
workshop that I presented at a department retreat in December 2014.  
 
Keywords: empathy, academic advising 
 
Tired and with a slight headache, I trudged up 
five flights of stairs to reach my car in the 
Bellevue College parking garage only to be 
greeted at the top by a watercolor of misty 
oranges and pinks in the west. Looking through 
the trees at the sunset, I reflected on how this is a 
metaphor for 5:00pm on Friday after the first 
week of every quarter of my last seven years in the 
Academic Advising Department at Bellevue 
College. The days are long, full of back-to-back 
sessions with students who forgot to register on 
time, were dropped for missing the tuition 
payment deadline, or registered two months back, 
but now want to change their entire schedule.  My 
colleagues lament the loss of the stillness on 
campus between quarters and the return of the 
lines at the Bookstore and Coffee Shop. The 
Internet is always ten times slower than during 
the rest of the quarter, with the online class 
schedule lagging behind after each registration 
transaction. At the end of the week, however, we 
celebrate the completion of our Advising 
Marathon and swap stories of the students who 
came in shaking and breathless, but left smiling 
and vowing to follow-up before the next quarter. 
While we work in a profession that relies on 
businesses-like efficiency and one-stop customer 
service, it is, above all, true human connection 
that brings brightness and color to our days and 
leaves us with our biggest senses of 
accomplishment. Our success depends on our 
ability to serve as empathetic team members and 
educators, however challenging and vulnerable it 
might be to do so.   
My student affairs journey began as a 
sophomore resident assistant at the University of 
Puget Sound. Growing up on the East Coast and 
not knowing anyone on campus, I was the sole 
proprietor of my story and it took a couple of 
semesters to ease into the new environment.  In 
our first staff meeting, the resident director 
invited each of us to bring an item of importance 
to share.  Someone brought a plant, another a 
drum, and I brought a stuffed dog, which I had 
been given as a child.  I took my turn, explaining 
how my stuffed animal was about 12 years old 
and had comforted me through my tonsillectomy.  
While I do not always enjoy sharing out in a 
group setting, she had set the stage for that 
basement lounge area to be a warm, and safe 
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EMPATHETIC MOMENTS: A STUDENT AFFAIRS REFLECTION                 68 
 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 9 
space.  Following our initial meeting, the resident 
director invited the staff members to meet one-
on-one with her each week.  I liked that she 
allowed us to venture outside of her office to chat 
over a cup of coffee in the Student Union Building 
or sit on a bench looking out over the quad. 
During these meetings, I felt like she listened to 
me wholeheartedly, whether I was sharing the 
frustrations I had in assisting quarreling 
roommates or connecting to a novel in my 
literature class.  She had the ability to 
demonstrate genuine empathy; she understood 
my feelings, communicated them back to me, and 
allowed me to feel heard and thus, important. 
In my current role as Associate Director of 
Academic Advising and manager of Bellevue 
College’s First Year Experience course, I see 
themes of grit and resilience trending among 
topics used in student successes courses and 
pedagogy.  In addition to traditional study skills—
Reading for Meaning, Note Taking, and Test 
Taking—assessments like Henderson’s (2014) 
“Resiliency Quiz” and “Resiliency Wheel” and the 
Duckworth’s (2007) “Grit Scale” are now 
important early predictors of student success in 
college.  In the literature, grit and resilience are 
attributed to a variety of factors including, the 
presence of support structures, personal 
strategies for success, and the individual’s own 
ability to foster what Dweck (2006) coined a 
“growth mindset.”  In my own college experience, 
resilience existed, as I felt like I had built up 
enough strategies to successfully complete my 
coursework and had support from my father, a 
college professor; however, it was the empathy 
that I received from student affairs practitioners 
and faculty on campus that allowed me to 
flourish—to enjoy college, find my place, begin to 
share my story, and, in turn, form meaningful 
relationships with others.  Likewise, researcher 
Brené Brown (2007) found that in her work, “the 
stories of resilience shared a common core…. 
empathy is at the center” (p. 33).  Empathy, 
forming genuine connections with students and 
colleagues, is a common strand running through 
my own story and continues to inspire my work. I 
also believe that practicing empathy with students 
is the true driver for college student success and 
institutional heart. 
The concept of empathy has existed in writing 
since Adam Smith’s (1759) text, The Theory of 
Moral Sentiments, and yet, it is oftentimes 
confused for sympathy, feeling pity or sorry for 
someone else’s circumstances.  Chances to 
practice empathy are also tossed aside due to lack 
of time or fear of traipsing into the unknown.  
Empathy is, in order of these steps: first, seeing 
the world as others see it (perspective taking); 
second, remaining non-judgmental; third, 
understanding another person’s feelings; fourth, 
communicating your understanding of that 
person’s feelings, either verbally or non-verbally 
(Brown, 2007, p. 37).  There is research, though, 
that students in our institutions are not as able to 
move through the steps of empathy as past 
generations.  Sharon Daloz Parks (2011) cites a 
2010 study by researcher Sara Konath: 
College students today are 40 percent less 
empathetic than those of thirty years ago, 
with the numbers plunging primarily after 
2000.… a millennial mixture of video games, 
social media, reality TV and hyper-
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competition have left young people self-
involved, shallow and unfettered in their 
individualism and ambition. (p. 183) 
Imagining an institution, a student affairs 
division, or student body devoid of empathy 
conjures visions of mere transactions without 
learning, growth, or human connection and 
understanding.  I believe that this statistic also 
leads us to an unwritten responsibility as 
educators.  We need to seek ways in which we can 
break through the shield of technology and pop 
culture to get to know our students and how they 
form connections.  At its root, the presence of 
empathy protects students from isolation, letting 
them know that they are not alone in their 
emotions.  Additionally, empathy builds a web of 
connections between individuals so that each 
person experiences a heightened state of 
resiliency and cannot metaphorically fall through 
the cracks.   
Breaking through to students and 
demonstrating care with each other using the 
power of empathy can be time consuming, 
especially in a structured office setting with back-
to-back 30-minute appointments and the 
constant chiming of technology.  It can be 
challenging to remain in the moment while 
students share a piece of themselves when there 
is a knock at the door, the phone rings, or Outlook 
announces that the next appointment has arrived.  
As student affairs practitioners, intentionality is 
key because: “We pay more attention to 
remaining constantly busy with multiple projects 
which often lead to burnout, stress and illness 
than to balance our personal and work lives with 
activities that nourish our souls—rest, reflection, 
and caring human connection” (Rendon, 2005, p. 
95).  Linda Reisser (2002) also talks about “the 
rewards of working with students” (p. 51) and the 
“renewal experiences every day at the office, 
especially if we consciously co-create them.  My 
most important ones involve savoring the 
relationships with students and staff” (p. 50).  In 
each of their reflections, Rendon and Reisser 
address the intentionality of making time for 
relationships.  For me, I have to open myself up to 
the seemingly mundane moments in the office.  
These moments range from how I choose to 
follow-up with colleagues in conversation at the 
coffeemaker—probing into why they may be 
having a rough day when they say they are doing 
“fine,” but their tone tells another story—to the 
way I craft email responses to simple student 
requests (i.e.—asking why they might be 
interested in learning about the deadline for 
receiving a Withdrawal in class); I want to 
consistently leave the door open to developing 
relationships of care and trust. 
About a year ago a student walked into my 
office wearing a Seahawks sweatshirt, knit cap, 
and expensive-looking headphones.  He slumped 
down into a chair.  This student’s goal was to play 
basketball in Europe, but first he wanted to get a 
degree to give him a fallback option.  His Math 
and English Assessment placed him into Adult 
Basic Education.  This was his second or third 
attempt at trying to go to school because he 
struggled to find the time and transportation, 
taking care of a younger sibling, and needing to 
ride multiple buses to get to the college. He 
mumbled and kept glancing at his iPhone, but 
when I asked him about what brought him to 
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school this time around, his voice was clearer, 
and he spoke about wanting to honor the memory 
of his father who had recently passed away. He 
felt like he needed to be strong for his family and 
also step up to the plate and earn his college 
education. In that moment, I felt myself 
connecting with his sadness and desire to be 
strong and resilient in the face of hardship, as the 
passing away of a parent shapes my own story. 
For me, it was important to not just launch into 
his steps for getting started, but to pause and 
acknowledge the challenges that he faces. 
Empathy can also feel risky and leave us 
vulnerable and exposed when asked to invoke 
sensitive feelings and emotions and to be hyper-
aware of the sensations brought up in our own 
stories. Advising at a community college, I 
interact with an incredibly diverse population of 
students, some who have had powerful 
experiences that I cannot even imagine. Currently, 
the Academic Advising and Counseling 
departments at Bellevue College share a front 
desk staff and space, so it is easy for students to 
quickly be referred to a trained counseling 
professional when they show emotion during an 
academic advising session. Additionally, recent 
national events have given rise to powerful 
conversations, protests, and opportunities to re-
examine our own experiences and move beyond 
our comfort zones. In searching Google images 
representing empathy for a recent presentation, I 
found many pictures of worn sneakers and the 
phrase: “To Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes.” I do 
not believe that this is an accurate definition and 
prefer to side with Brown (2007), who states:  
I don’t believe we can fully understand racism, 
sexism, homophobia, ageism or any other 
form of oppression, unless we’ve experienced 
it.  However, I do believe that we are all 
responsible for constantly developing our 
understanding of oppression and recognizing 
our part in perpetuating it.  Empathy is a 
powerful place to start…Ultimately, feeling 
shame about privilege actually perpetuates 
racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, 
ageism, etc.  I don’t have to know “exactly how 
you feel”– I just have to touch a part of my life 
that opens me up to hearing your experience.  
If I can touch that place, I stay out of 
judgment and I can reach out with empathy.  
This is where both personal and social healing 
begin.” (p. 59) 
I cannot pretend to understand what it is like to 
be a first-generation student working nights, 
caring for children, and taking three buses from 
south Seattle in order to attend college; those are 
shoes in which I have never walked. Listening to a 
student’s story, though, I can empathize by 
hearing and recognizing the emotion in their 
story--whether it be frustration, exhaustion, 
confusion, or others--and finding times and 
places within my own life when I felt that way. As 
Elsa Barkley (1989) wrote in her essay, African 
American Quilting: A Framework for 
Conceptualizing and Teaching African-American 
Women’s History, “I believe that all people can 
learn to center in another experience, validate it, 
and judge it by its own standards without need of 
comparison or need to adopt that framework as 
their own” (p, 922). Both Brown and Barkley 
recognize that we each carry our own unique lens 
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or standpoint, and their desire is to free us from 
feeling that the only way to experience empathy is 
to fully take on another’s experience as our own. 
Instead, Brown speaks to the even greater power 
of empathy to bring us to a place of healing 
through recognition of feeling and emotion; 
empathy lacks the duality that exists within 
comparison and judgment.   
Empathy is an immeasurable soft skill, and 
many student affairs professionals choose our 
line of work due to an innate desire to help others 
and the pre-existence of such skills. Still, it is 
important to find applications in daily work and 
to practice empathetic responses with others. 
Unfortunately, it is impossible to argue that 
increased student success and retention directly 
correlate with the experience of receiving 
empathy; empathy looks and feels differently 
depending on who receives it. Questions on 
certain national assessments, such as the Survey 
of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) allude 
to the hope that advisors will broach sensitive 
conversations and connect with students. The 
2009 SENSE report by the Center of Community 
College Engagements lists student responses 
when asked if, “A college staff member talked 
with me about my commitments outside of school 
to help me figure out how many course to take” (p. 
10). This question reveals that advisors are 
expected to move beyond discussing degree 
requirements listed on paper worksheets and 
check-in on the lives our students lead outside the 
classroom. Through discussion and role-playing 
at a recent department retreat, the Advising staff 
team explored and practiced empathetic 
responses to scenarios involving a student’s 
inability to pay their tuition on time, a staff 
member’s feeling that she may have misadvised a 
student, and a front line staff member’s 
interaction with a student misinformed about 
which department to visit. During the 
demonstrations of situations involving the 
presence of empathy, a certain hush fell over the 
room, and we could sense a shift that brought the 
conversations to a deeper level. Within our 
Academic Advising department, we agreed that 
the willingness to lean into each conversation 
with a bit more empathy has the potential to 
result in a beautiful payoff: more successful and 
connected students and staff.   
REFERENCES 
Barkly, E. (1989). African-American women's quilting: 
A framework for conceptualizing and teaching 
African-American women’s history. Signs: 
Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(4), 
921-929. 
Brown, B. (2007). I thought It was just me (but it 
isn’t): Making the journey from “what will 
people think?” to “I am enough”. New York, NY: 
Gotham. 
Center for Community College Student Engagement. 
(2009). Benchmarking & Benchmarks: Effective 
Practice with Entering Students. Austin, TX: The 
University of Texas at Austin, Community College 
Leadership Program.  
Daloz Parks, S. (2011). Big questions, worthy dreams: 
Mentoring emerging adults in their search for 
meaning, purpose, and faith. San Francisco, CA: 
Jossey-Bass. 
Duckworth, A.L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M.D., & 
Kelly, D.R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and 
passion for long-term goals. Journal of 
Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 1087-1101.  
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Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of 
success. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. 
Henderson, N. (2014). The resilience quiz. 
Retrieved from http://www.resiliency.com/free-
articles-resources/the-resiliency-quiz/ 
Reisser, L. (2002). Self-renewal and personal 
development in professional life. New Directions 
forStudent Services, 98, 49-59.  
Rendon, L. (2005). Recasting agreements that govern 
teaching and learning: intellectual and spiritual 
framework for transformation. Religion and 
Education, 32(1), 79-108. 
 
Emily B. Kolby is an associate director of advising for 
First Year Programs at Bellevue College. She earned 
her MEd in Student Affairs Administration from 
Western Washington University in 2007. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Empathetic Moments: A Student Affairs Reflection

“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.” ― Paulo Freire (1991

Yamamura, Erica K

MAGIS 
Volume 10 Issue 1 Article 6 
2016 
Praxis: Professional Identity for Educational Equity and Social 
Justice 
Erica K. Yamamura 
Seattle University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis 
Recommended Citation 
Yamamura, Erica K. (2016) "Praxis: Professional Identity for Educational Equity and Social Justice," 
MAGIS: Vol. 10: Iss. 1, Article 6. 
Available at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/magis/vol10/iss1/6 
This Reflection is brought to you for free and open access by the Seattle University Journals at ScholarWorks @ 
SeattleU. It has been accepted for inclusion in MAGIS by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks @ SeattleU. 
PRAXIS   5 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 10 
 
Praxis: Professional Identity for Educational Equity and Social Justice. 
 
Erica K. Yamamura, Ph.D., Seattle University 
 
“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an 
artist does not mean that he or she can make the 
profile, can shape the students. What the educator 
does in teaching is to make it possible for the 
students to become themselves.”  
― Paulo Freire (1991) 
"What subject do you teach?" is a question I am 
asked often. I tend to share that I'm a teacher. And if 
that does not suffice, I explain that I teach at a 
university in a master's program in education. And 
for individuals who REALLY want to know, I share 
that I train college advisors and practitioners who 
develop and oversee programs and co-curricular 
activities to create an inclusive environment to help 
diverse students learn and grow. Recently, I was in 
conversation with another parent who is a K-12 
teacher who asked me a very different question: 
what do your students learn? At first, a litany of 
theories, concepts, and contexts came to mind. But I 
soon realized that was too simple. I frequently say 
that dissonance is development, especially in the 
SDAD 5400: Student Development Theory, 
Research, and Practice class--but I have come to the 
conclusion that it's more about development by 
working through dissonance and developing 
students' professional identity in this way. Let me 
explain more: 
Freire (2000) noted the concept of praxis--
constancy of action and reflection to create a more 
inclusive educational environment and society. In 
the student development administration (SDA) 
program, I have had the distinct pleasure to witness 
the formation of praxis throughout students' 
experience in the program.  
While I can describe the concept of praxis as the 
intersection of theory and practice, the process of 
praxis is much messier. This process often begins in 
my student development theory class where 
graduate students are introduced to key 
developmental constructs in the field--names such 
as Astin (1984), Schlossberg, et. al, (1995), and 
Baxter-Magolda (2004) become part of their 
professional lexicon. As we progress through the 
quarter, students gain confidence in naming 
examples of transition, how students make meaning 
of their experiences, etc.  
Yet the 'development' truly begins when students 
are asked to take such theories from their original 
constructs and reconcile them with our diverse and 
emerging student populations, being inclusive of 
students who hold marginalized or emergent 
identities that were not present or were overlooked 
during the time many of these theories were formed. 
They subsequently grapple with Pope, Reynolds, and 
Mueller (2004) framework for multicultural 
competence, Yosso’s (2005) community cultural 
wealth, and critical race theory (Delgado & Stefancic, 
2001). For students who hold privileged identities, it 
is typically a time of discomfort in naming privileges 
they cannot see or feel but are keenly aware that they 
exist. On the other side, students who hold 
marginalized identities can become empowered by 
the new language and sense-making of their 
experience. For most students, it's a complex time of 
re-visioning their own undergraduate experiences 
and viewing it through a new lens, as a student 
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PRAXIS   6 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 10 
affairs professional--and imagining what this may 
mean for their current and future work with 
students. Individual theories in their neat and 
logical phases/stages alone no longer suffice. 
Ambiguity and complexity abound. 
“For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, 
individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge 
emerges only through invention and re-invention, 
through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful 
inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the 
world, and with each other.”  
― Paulo Freire (2000) 
When students' identities are presented as 
multifaceted and intersectional, theoretical chaos 
often ensues--how do I reconcile a students’ racial 
development with their gender identity and 
expression? Does student development look the 
same for international students who may bring in 
their own ethnic/national lens that is not 
'American'? For students who truly internalize this 
praxis, it is a joy to watch them really dive deep into 
their own intersectionality. Such students begin to 
question how their own salient identities interface 
with the students they serve, thereby adding yet 
another layer of multidimensionality. Students seek 
out or are referred to mentors, alumni, and other 
individuals to support this learning and dissonance. 
In the theory class, students are also placed in 
teams to complete a community-based project to 
formally apply theory-to-practice to improve a 
particular aspect of student development. They must 
comb through and interrogate the research 
literature. Thereafter, they must also consult 
existing practice to gauge the viability and reality of 
recommendations they seek to make while 
concomitantly making critical connections to 
student learning and development theories. Now all 
this individual learning intersects with peers who 
are also internally engaged in this dissonance--and 
the phase of group-dissonance (aka learning) 
ensues. Conflict happens. Interpretations vary. 10 
weeks have now passed. And we have a celebratory 
toast to signal the triumph in completing such a 
heavy course. A week later, final papers are 
submitted, and the course ends.  
The student development theory course is 
typically just the beginning of this process of praxis 
and professional formation--where continuous 
reflection is required and action first starts 
theoretically and then in lived practice through our 
sequence of courses, graduate assistantships, 
internships, and our portfolio process.  
SDA PROGRAM 
As a faculty, this year we have been engaged in 
multiple levels of praxis as well. At the faculty level, 
following a national search, we have welcomed a new 
faculty member to our community, Dr. Thai-Huy 
Nguyen. His experience with Jesuit higher education 
as a student and practitioner coupled with his strong 
research background will serve the SDA program 
well in the years to come. During summer 2015, the 
faculty started the year reviewing and reflecting 
upon program highlights and challenges. As a way to 
move forward, we defined concrete goals for the 
program: 
(1) The SDA Program will measure our regional 
"public" impact through completed SDAD 
internships 
(2) The SDA Program will strengthen the 
national recruitment and admissions process for 
our program 
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MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 10 
(3) The SDA Program will develop a plan for 
undergraduate course opportunities 
We have faced a number of shifts at the college 
and university level in governance and assessment. 
The College of Education is in its 2nd year of a 
horizontal leadership model, with each faculty 
member assuming various roles and responsibilities 
that used to be designated for the program director. 
The College of Education is also moving toward 
more college-wide events. We are excited about 
having our first College of Education graduation 
event in 2016! At the university level, we have a new 
faculty handbook which has ushered in new policies 
which as a faculty we are still working to understand 
and adapt to. One clear reality is that student 
enrollment and engagement are being examined 
closely, and that we must be flexible in not just our 
curricular offerings but in also in our delivery and in 
the way we serve our students. We are being 
proactive in the SDA program: we are currently in 
the process of exploring undergraduate course 
opportunities in SDA and in refining our beloved 
internship program. We will engage with our 
community as much as possible as we seek praxis in 
the SDA program. 
MAGIS: 10 YEARS OF A STUDENT-RUN 
JOURNAL 
MAGIS has been an important part of praxis for 
the SDA community for the last 10 years. The 
publication serves as a special space where students, 
alumni, and friends of the program showcase 
rigorous research, critical and creative reflections to 
add depth and breadth to our professional 
community in written form.  In its 10 years, over 100 
unique works have been showcased. The publication 
has also moved from print to an online journal, 
providing broader access to the rich articles and 
creative works of our community. I have especially 
appreciated the opportunity to work with our 
talented student editors-in-chief, each of whom 
bring a unique lens and disposition to the 
publication.  
WITH GRATITUDE 
One common thread of praxis in the SDA 
program is the robust and dedicated community of 
faculty, students, alumni, program partners, and 
professionals. This community provides important 
support and challenge, especially to our students as 
they develop praxis as part of their professional 
identity. May we continue to nurture, challenge, and 
support each other to be inviting, inclusive, and 
forever-developing professionals. 
REFERENCES 
Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement: A 
developmental theory for higher education. Journal 
of College Student Personnel, 25(4), 297-308. 
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: 
An introduction. New York, NY: New York 
University Press. 
Freire, P. (1991). Educational practice. In B. Bell, J. 
Gaventa, & J.M. Peters (Eds.), We make the road by 
walking: Conversations on education and social 
change (pp.145-198). Philadelphia, PA: Temple 
University Press.  
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th 
anniversary edition). New York, NY: Bloomsbury. 
Magolda, M. B. (2004). Making their own way. Sterling, 
VA: Stylus. 
Pope, R. L., Reynolds, A. L., & Mueller, J. A. (2004). 
Multicultural competence in student affairs. San 
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 
Schlossberg, N. K., Waters, E. B., & Goodman, J. (1995). 
Counseling adults in transition: Linking practice 
with theory (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Spring. 
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PRAXIS   8 
 
MAGIS: A STUDENT DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL, VOLUME 10 
Yosso, T. J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical 
race discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, 
Ethnicity, and Education, 8(1), 69-82. 
 
Dr. Erica K. Yamamura is an associate professor in the 
Student Development Administration program at 
Seattle University. Along with her role as a faculty 
member, Dr. Yamamura also serves as the program 
coordinator for the SDA program as well as the faculty 
adviser for MAGIS.  
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Praxis: Professional Identity for Educational Equity and Social Justice

Dumlao, Diego

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
11-27-2024 
2024-11-27 Seattle U Men’s Soccer Falls to UW in First Round of 
NCAA Tournament 
Diego Dumlao 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • November 27, 2024 • https://seattlespectator.com/2024/11/27/seattle-u-
mens-soccer-falls-to-uw-in-first-round-of-ncaa-tournament/
Seattle U Men’s Soccer Falls
to UW in First Round of NCAA
Tournament
Diego Dumlao, Volunteer Reporter
There
were no
empty
seats in
Husky
Soccer
Stadium
as fans
packed
shoulder
to
shoulder
in
preparation to watch Seattle University take on their foes from the north, the University of Washington (UW), in the
first round of the 2024 NCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship Tournament. 
Redhawk fans showed out as waves of red filled the stands. According to Seattle U Athletics, over 500 tickets were
distributed to students, faculty and student athletes alone.
Seattle U and UW last met in the National Tournament in 2017, where Seattle U came out victorious, defeating the
Huskies 3-2 in overtime. Earlier this season, the teams faced off on UW’s home turf where Seattle U fell to the Huskies
1-2. Anticipation for this match was tremendous.  
Jake Rushlo
Forward Yeider Zuluaga taking on UW defender in second
half.
Midfielder Luke Hammond sends in a
crucial corner kick late. (Jake Rushlo)
It was a back-and-forth battle for the entire match. Both the Huskies and the Redhawks played very aggressively, with
Seattle U racking up 24 fouls throughout the match and UW receiving 19. Defense was the name of the game, with both
teams making some big plays to deter their opponents’ attempts to put points on the board. 
Despite both teams making attempts to score, with Seattle U taking 13 shots during the regulation 90 minutes and UW
taking seven shots, the score was squared at 0-0 at the end of regulation, taking the match into overtime. Like a broken
record, the score remained tied at 0-0 for both overtime periods, sending the match into penalty kicks. 
In a disappointing end, the Huskies sealed the win after making three out of four attempts, while Seattle U was unable to
get any attempts past the UW keeper, putting an end to yet another great season from the Redhawks. 
“It’s difficult, with penalties anything can happen, it’s a 50/50 chance. I think it’s harder to lose that way than any other
way,” Senior forward Jeremy Opong said.  
Opong is among the six seniors and five grad students that Seattle U will be losing this year. Nate Daligcon is in his
second year as head coach of the program.  
“It’s tough to see these guys leave… you get to watch them grow, you get to watch them mature, you get to watch them
improve and then they leave, so that’s tough,” Daligcon said.  
In only two years as head coach for the Redhawks, Daligcon has already begun to make history. Through his leadership,
the team has made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA National Tournament, taken home the Western Athletic
Conference (WAC) championship and had a combined record of 24-8-7. Daligcon was named WAC Coach of the Year in
2023. His leadership has proven successful in just two years at the helm, and it will be exciting to see how it continues in
years to come.  
Although the program is losing many seniors, this year’s squad was full of younger talent, consisting of 11 juniors, only
one sophomore and eight freshmen. One big name from this year’s freshman class was Edgar Leon, a midfielder from
East Wenatchee, Wash. Leon appeared in all 20 of the matches this season, racking up six goals and was named the WAC
Freshman of the Year for the 2024 season.   
Despite an unfortunate ending to the 2024 season for the
Redhawks, the team is left with performances to be proud
of this year. The Redhawks ended their season with a
record of 12-4-4 and 7-1-1 in conference play. The team
also secured the WAC Championship after defeating San
Jose State 3-0 Nov. 16, clinching their spot in the NCAA
National Championship Tournament.  
The team’s performance leaves a lot to look forward to for
next season. With exciting young talent and a coaching
staff that was named the best in the Division I Far West
Region in 2023 via United Soccer Coaches to back them
up, next year should be just as, if not more successful, than
ones in recent years.  
Not only that, but there is a lot of excitement about
Seattle U making the switch to the West Coast Conference beginning in the 2025-26 season. All these factors combined
have Seattle U fans looking forward to what’s to come for the Redhawks. Bennet Kalberer, a first-year civil engineering
major at Seattle U who attended the game, has high hopes. 
Seattle U student section reacts to overtime penalty
equalizer. (Jake Rushlo)
“It’ll be good, I mean this was a great year so I think that’ll be a good indicator of what’s to come… I’m looking forward to
it [next season] a lot,” Kalberer said.  
The Seattle U Men’s Soccer program has already shown that they can compete at the highest level of Division I soccer. It
will be exciting to see what the future holds for this Redhawks squad.  


2024-11-27 Seattle U Men’s Soccer Falls to UW in First Round of NCAA Tournament

Platt, Chloe

Seattle University 
ScholarWorks @ SeattleU 
The Spectator Online Newspapers 
12-4-2024 
2024-12-04 Hockey Novice Learns Kraken Are Part of Shark’s 
Healthy Diet? 
Chloe Platt 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/spectator-online 
The Spectator • December 4, 2024 • https://seattlespectator.com/2024/12/04/hockey-novice-
learns-kraken-are-part-of-sharks-healthy-diet/
Hockey Novice Learns Kraken
Are Part of Shark’s Healthy
Diet?
Chloe Platt, Editor-in-Chief
I am a fan of monstrous, mythical beings in the way
that I think octopuses are really metal for having
suction cups that let them stick to things. In the same
manner, I am a fan of hockey games in the way that I
like seeing 20-year-old men get put into time-out for
fighting with sticks. This combination of simple
pleasures lent itself to me attending my first Seattle
Kraken game. 
Upon my arrival at Climate Pledge Arena and
following the discovery of my unfortunately drafty seat, I was, at once, enthralled by the theatrics of it all. Two
jumbotrons (lovingly referred to as “The Twins” by announcers) lit up the arena, airing moody, harshly lit clips of each of
the players as fans filled the seats. 
Signaling the start of the game, as if the timer ticking at the bottom of the screen wasn’t enough, a mediocrely-acted clip
of a rugged, seemingly seafaring bartender recalling the legend of the aforementioned Kraken played. 
And certain men will claim that sports are superior to theater, as if they don’t indulge in dramatics unconvincingly veiled
behind the guise of athleticism. 
After toiling over the irony of the above realization, I settled into watching the game. The Seattle Kraken played the San
Jose Sharks Nov. 30, and not very well, I might dare to add. I rejoiced when, 17 seconds into the first period, Number 11
(Luke, as I am sure his friends refer to him), was put into time-out for holding a Mr. Gourde (Number 37). 
Unfortunately, “holding,” in this context, does not refer to the intimate act of wrapping one’s arms around another in a
tender embrace, but instead is when a player restrains another player. Following the excitement of this penalty, the
Sharks scored a goal in the first three minutes, which I suppose makes sense given the fact that sharks never stop
swimming, even toward a little net with a padded man in front of it.
The rest of the first period was characterized by an aimless back and forth, with the Sharks blocking every attempted
shot by the Kraken. At the end of the first period, the audience was “treated” to a guest appearance by Buoy, the Kraken
mascot.
Now, I am no scientist, but it does seem rather perplexing that a hockey team that relies heavily on deep sea imagery and
aquatic mythology in all their marketing and promotions would have a troll and not a kraken as its mascot. Yet, I digress.
Following my disappointment in Buoy’s ability to portray a compelling, believably friendly and spirited mascot, the
second period began, and so did the action. The San Jose Sharks scored three goals this period while I sat in the arena
wondering if we should cheer for both teams or only our local one. The Kraken scored one goal, and everyone cheered a
lot more than they did for the Sharks, answering my previous question.
By the third period, it was evident to me, someone with very little understanding of hockey beyond the whole puck-in-
goal concept, that the Kraken were crack-a-LACKING. This was made even more clear when forlorn- looking Kraken
jersey wearers began leaving their seats 2/3 of the way through the period.
I, however, am loyal, and stayed until the end of the game. With less than a minute left, the Kraken scored another goal
against the Sharks, bringing their score to 4-2. This score was temporary, however, as this last-minute goal was taken
away for “goalkeeper interference.” 
After the crowd booed the referees, the jumbotrons played replays of the goal to show this interference. I had no idea
what I was looking at, and I began to question why the National Hockey League (NHL) people couldn’t just give the
Kraken the point anyway. They still weren’t going to win, might as well let them have a little joy.
Much to my dismay, the NHL folks are not as giving as I am, and took the point away. As Kraken fans frowned in their
squid hats and moped in their tentacle gloves, the clock ticked down to mark the end of the third period, and of the
game. 
The final score was 4-2 or 2-1, if we are simplifying the ratio as was so ingrained in me during my elementary years.
While the Kraken were eaten by the Sharks that evening, I enjoyed the grandiosity of the whole hockey experience:
jumbotrons, mini-movies, adult time-outs, an experimental DJ and all other merriments. 
However, I would like to discuss Buoy with the Kraken’s marketing director at their earliest convenience. There has to be
a better mascot option.


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