Christian Ilechukwu The Advocate Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham is a strong option for many students in the eastern Portland area. The campus is known for affordable classes, hands-on programs and a quiet environment with views of Mount Hood on clear days. As an MHCC student, you might wonder how it compares with other community colleges in Oregon. Here’s a fair look based on recent numbers. While no school is perfect for everyone, MHCC holds its own in many ways. Oreg

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Most people do not think much about their local paper on an ordinary day. It is there, quietly doing its work: reporting on meetings, highlighting achievements, documenting decisions and recording the life of the community. Like many institutions that function well, it fades into the background. Until it doesn’t. Across the country, communities are learning what happens when local journalism weakens or disappears. The change is rarely dramatic

Timothy Grassley The Advocate On Monday, March 30, at 12:40 p.m., a classroom filled with students shuffled in after a one-and-a-half-hour break following an early morning start. Still easing back into the day after a lighthearted review of the welding syllabus and a video, students expected another routine lecture to cap off their afternoon. Instead, they were met with unexpected news. What appeared to be a standard overview of class requirements concealed an announcement

Photo by Juan Marcel Francia Chiderah Edeh The Advocate When people hear “community college,” they often assume it’s a second choice, a backup plan or a temporary stop before something better. Some even think it’s only for those who couldn’t get into a university or can’t afford one. But that idea doesn’t reflect what I see every day at Mt. Hood Community College. What really defines MHCC isn’t prestige or comparison to four-year universities — it’s perseverance. Walk across

Photo by Dmitriy Morgan McCarraher The Advocate When people think about a newspaper, they often think about the stories printed on the page: headlines, articles, opinions. But a local paper is more than a collection of stories. It is an institution — one that quietly helps hold a community together. Institutions are the structures that give a community stability. Libraries preserve knowledge. Schools pass on learning. Town halls provide a place for civic decisions. In its ow

In the age of clickbait and advertorials, community service still matters more than numbers and sales Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Writing—especially in the age of constant content—can begin to feel like output for the sake of output. Articles are produced, posted, shared, scrolled past, replaced. The speed creates an illusion of importance. Movement becomes mistaken for meaning. But journalism was never meant to be performance. We don’t write to write. We write to inform

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Community is a word used often but rarely examined. It appears in mission statements, donor appeals and analytics reports, usually as a vague abstraction—an audience to reach, a group to engage or a set of numbers to grow. But community is not a metric. It’s a relationship built on trust, care and continuity. A community isn’t simply a group of people living near one another. It’s a network of shared concerns, histories and responsibilities, bu

Jennifer Childers The Advocate It has become increasingly clear that the world we live in is not what many of us once believed. The idea of stable, righteous, benevolent systems quietly working to keep people safe has proven to be a carefully constructed fiction — an illusion collapsing under the weight of lived experience. The programs and institutions we were conditioned to trust are not only failing; in many cases, they are actively causing harm. We’ve been taught that if

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Comparison has always existed. People have long measured themselves against neighbors, coworkers and peers. But in recent years, comparison has shifted from an occasional habit into a constant background condition of modern life. It is no longer something people do from time to time; it is something many people live inside. And in some cases, it becomes a need. Everywhere we turn, we are presented with curated versions of others’ lives. Achievem

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate When it comes to problems and disagreements—whether something small, like deciding what color a living room should be, or something as consequential as geopolitical tensions—there was once an approach that felt both ordinary and essential: the art of compromise. It was understood as a skill, even a virtue. To compromise required the ability to see the full picture, to acknowledge multiple perspectives, and to approach disagreement with a measure

Adam Elwell The Advocate I’m tired. I’m taking 19 credits this term. I bartend on the weekends, and I work on the student newspaper, time permitting. I would like to see my family and my dog and clean my house and keep up with my friends, and not have to bump every doctor’s appointment because I double-booked it, time permitting. In just a little while, though, I’ll be expected to put in more than 40 hours of labor every week. Is it paid? No. I’m actually paying for it. I’m t

Jennifer Childers The Advocate It’s easy to get discouraged, angry or downright terrified when watching the news or scrolling our feeds these days. It’s a legitimately scary time, and there are so many things to feel worried, angry or discouraged by that it can be difficult to find a thread of hope and possibility to grasp. I think we sometimes forget just how powerful we are. I know I do. The past few weeks have been particularly challenging as I’ve found myself not only ad

I keep seeing posts and memes online about how “all things in nature hibernate or die back during the winter,” or how “winter is a time of rest, and therefore we need to refrain from activities and social events so we can reset.” And while I absolutely agree that we need to allow ourselves more time and space for rest, I can’t help but feel like we’re missing the point. If growing up in the temperate rain forest of the Pacific Northwest has taught me anything, it’s that winte

Holidays: Time to Rest, Reflect, and Rejoice Have you ever counted down the days to a holiday and felt like the world finally slowed down? Holidays are more than just a break, they are special times that give us a chance to rest, connect with others, explore new experiences, and reflect on the things we are grateful for. In our busy lives, filled with schoolwork, jobs, and daily responsibilities, these special days allow us to pause, slow down, and focus on what truly matters

Between travel, groceries, and the temptation to “celebrate properly,” it’s easy for college students to spend money they don’t really have. But being broke doesn’t mean you have to skip the fun.

As Thanksgiving approaches, the smell of pumpkin spice and the feeling of gratitude fill the air. Whether you’re staying local for the break or just looking for ways to celebrate, there are plenty of activities around town to enjoy the season. From festive gatherings to volunteer opportunities, Thanksgiving is about connection, reflection, and giving back. COMMUNITY EVENTS AND FESTIVALS The Gresham area hosts several events to capture the holiday spirit. The 2025 Celebration

I’ll be the first to admit I was a little jealous of the bonds and the laughter they shared on those bargain-blitz battlefields, but I also knew myself well enough to realize it was more than I could handle. I mean, let’s be honest: Holiday shopping in general was more than I could handle, and Black Friday was in a league of its own. Nowadays, the holiday shopping season hits a bit differently. Instead of waiting in line for hours to brave the crowds in physical stores, intro

There is a quiet but unmistakable shift in the way modern culture approaches progress: Not simply political or technological progress, but the ordinary, often unglamorous act of working toward something that takes time. Patience, once considered a civic virtue and a personal discipline, has begun to feel antiquated. The world moves quickly, and many people now expect everything else to move at the same speed. What used to be understood as a process is increasingly judged as

Finals week has a reputation for chaos: Late-night cram sessions fueled by coffee and energy drinks, half-finished assignments scattered across the kitchen table, and students hyperventilating in the bathroom between exams have become synonymous with the college experience. But while the pressure is real, the full-blown meltdown narrative might be more myth than reality – and students today are all too aware of how easily overdoing it can lead to burnout. That doesn’t mean w

As “Stranger Things” enters its long-awaited final chapter starting Nov. 26, the anticipation isn’t just about seeing monsters fall or worlds collide. It’s about finally uncovering the answers that have been waiting in the shadows since the very beginning. This season feels like the moment where every question finds its place: The truth behind the Upside Down, the origin of Vecna’s power, the connection between dimensions, and the personal destinies of the characters who have