The Cal Poly Humboldt track team is having an impressive season this year, with their accomplishments ranging from broken records to nationally ranked squads.
“This season has been a breakthrough year for our program with several national provisional marks and national event squad rankings across multiple disciplines,” said junior 800 meter runner Julian Jensen.
The most recent example of success for Humboldt was their last regular season meet this year, the Raider Invite at Southern Oregon University up in Ashland, Oregon.
Joy Hano broke a school record for the women that had been held for 33 years during one of the Southern California meets from the weekend before. Hano ran the 100m hurdles in 13.96 seconds. The record was previously a 14.06 run by Clara Trigg.
Another notable trend for the Lumberjacks recently has been the success of their men’s 800 meter squad, which is currently nationally ranked. 800 meters is almost half of a mile, which means the runners need to have endurance and speed to stand out.
“We have four runners who specialize in the 800 and we have had a successful season so far,” said Jensen. “After the Humboldt Invitational, we were ranked third in the nation out of about 200 Division II schools with a four main average of 1:53.10.”
One of these runners is Aris Valerio, a junior who has mainly been focusing on the 800 and is currently sixth on the top ten all time list for Humboldt.
“Personally, I feel like I need to lead the middle distance guys,” said Valerio. “They are basically my sons at this point, and I’m holding their hands to continuing greatness in the 800.”
Valerio is two seconds away from breaking the 800 school record and is confident about what the future holds.
This squad has received praise from runners that take part in other events, including Carson Smith, a junior who is the fastest current 1500 meter and 5k runner at Humboldt.
“Our 1500 squad, along with our 800 squad, is really strong and really deep, so we have enough people that can focus on that event at our conference championships to secure us some points,” said Smith.
With great speed comes great responsibility and Humboldt runners take this in stride.
“When you’re fast, everyone kinda has to look at you, so to use that position and do my best to set a good example is something I really strive for,” said Smith. “It’s something I didn’t really have my first couple years.”
The Jacks will now carry their focus into CCAA conference championships and look for more success.
“This team has taken big steps into becoming a good team in the future,” said Valerio. “Last season we started something that is only getting better.”
On April 15, Sexland came onto campus. Sexland is an event that focuses on exposure to new ways of thinking about sex and sexuality, while also validating sexual experiences and diversity through a lens of enthusiastic consent. The event is put on every spring semester by the Peer Health Education Program and Check-It.
“[The] main goal of Sexland is to create a safe and sexual experience for everyone,” says Shelby Shull, an intern at Peer Health and Education.
Many different clubs and organizations such as Planned Parenthood, North Coast Rape Crisis Center, Students for Violence Prevention, The Trans Task Force, Women’s Resource Center and Eric Rofes Multiculture Queer Resource Center were present at the event.
Each community group at the event had a table where students participated in arts and crafts and got information on resources about contraceptives, free condoms, or information on the community groups resources and how to get involved.
A booth by Planned Parenthood offered pamphlets on contraceptives, along with free lube and condoms.
The Eric Rofes Queer Resources Center was there to provide various resources for the queer community, such as where to find gender neutral bathrooms or information about the queer library and how/when to access it.
“This is a great event to show off trans resources,” said Landon White, Outreach Director for the center.
“Our center is all about creating a safe space on campus for queer people,” said Art Wardynski, Volunteer & Resource Director.
Some people were shy, but sex positivity was everywhere you looked. Everyone was very welcoming which helped calm down the anxiety nerves. Students were asking questions and getting involved in activities like naming the right body part, what is this sex position, etc.
There was a long line for a table where people stood wrapped in bondage ropes. They learned about bondage and how to have fun/experiment like chest ties, heart shaped thighs, etc.
“It’s a really good opportunity for people to get a comfortable experience,” explains Sierra Cosper, who was running the bondage table. “There are a lot of ways to hurt yourself, so that’s why I am handing out pamphlets for everyone to get more informed”.
Winners of the raffle received a variety of prizes–from vibrators to books, rainbow embroidered cum-rags, butt plugs, heart crops, vibrators controlled by your phone, finger flogger, to non sex toy prizes like couples diary, exploring trans and queer identities book, a penis shaped neck pillow and so much more.
Disclaimer: Alana Hackman works at the Peer Health Education Center and was involved in this event.
The 80’s is still alive at Dead Reckoning. Tucked in the back of the bar is a pinball lover’s retro-neon sanctuary, buzzing with the clacks and dings of the shaking machines and steel pinballs blasting against paddles. You can try your hand at the Godzilla or Ghost Busters games, or maybe you’re more of a Revenge on Mars kinda guy. They’re fun, and have definitely eaten up a decent amount of my pocket change, but there’s a whole community surrounding this arcade favorite.
Every Tuesday night from 6:30-8:00 p.m, Arcata’s pinball league takes to the bar’s seven machines for their weekly tournaments headed by Cal Poly Humboldt’s very own professor of biological sciences and pinball wizard, Jonathan Montgomery. Everyone is encouraged to join.
Montgomery is bent over Revenge on Mars while the crowd and I watch him with the focus of a sports game. He talks to me attentively without breaking his pinball focus. Montgomery got into pinball during his graduate program in Riverside, where he had joined a league. After moving back to Arcata to teach in 2019, he missed having the community of a league and decided to start his own.
Believe it or not, the International Flipper Pinball Association writes up a whole internationally recognized framework for the organization of pinball leagues, which Montgomery forms the tournaments around. Folks pay-in a dollar and are randomly assigned to a team. After three games, whoever has the most points takes all the cash.
How does one even get good at pinball and take home the gold? Montgomery, who has the highest pinball score at Dead Reckoning of 1.2 billion points, says you first have to stop “double-flipping”, where you push both flippers up at the same time.
“You end up making a larger gap for the ball to fall through,” Montgomery says. “And secondly, the machine only has so much power. The flippers are weaker if they are powered together”.
The next step to pinball stardom is cradling, where you catch the ball, hold it, and time the flip-up to exactly where you want it to go. The sport takes a lot of muscle memory, but despite the rings, dings, and neon lights, people are drawn to it because of its meditative qualities.
“The thing I love about pinball is you get in this flow, and this sort of really focused state,” Montgomery says. “It takes all your attention”.
Montgomery also favors the physicality of the game, where you’re actually getting to hit a ball around instead of stare at a video game screen. But a lot of the magic lies in the community of pinball, which was something I noticed when I approached the group as a lone pinball noob and received nothing but warm welcomes and good conversation.
“Even if you don’t know that a pinball community is near you, it’s there,” says Montgomery. “There’s always a crew of nice, relaxed, people who want to play a fun, Zen game.”
Since 2003, the CPH Geology department has been bringing students to various geologically significant sites across the western US during a marathon spring break field trip. This year marked the twentieth anniversary of Geology 110: Field Geology of the Western United States, uninterrupted by even the pandemic, and the retirement of veteran geology professor Mark Hemphill-Haley.
At 8am on March 11, all twenty members of the 2023 Geology 110 expedition met at Van Matre Hall weighed down with our camping gear to load into the four vehicles that would be our homes for the next two solid days as we drove to Death Valley.
The Bonanza King Formation is a massive bed of carbonate rock that constitutes much of the boundary between Nevada and California. It is visible in many places across both states, but at Point of Rocks, it dominates the landscape. There, tilted beds of Bonanza King carbonate cut through the terrain like the ribs of a dead giant, draped in loose alluvium that slants down to the desert flats.
The footing on the ridge was treacherous. Skree slid under my feet as I moved up the slope, conscious only of the $500 Brunton Compass in the case at my belt and the possibility that I might drop it in front of everyone. I looked down, and, deciding that the bed at my feet was good enough, knelt to remove the Brunton from my belt case. In the protection of my big straw hat, I carefully lay the edge of the compass flush on the top of the carbonate bed, tilting it this way and that in a futile attempt to find the striking angle of the bed. It was exhilarating to finally be practicing a geology skill in the field. We were learning to measure the striking angle of a rock bed, which is the compass heading at which it cuts the ground, and I was determined to find it myself. In conjunction with the dip, which is the angle at which the bed descends into the ground, strike-dip measurements of rock beds and faults provide a picture of what’s going on under the surface. Finally, I set aside my pride and looked around to find Michelle Robinson, geology alum extraordinaire, who was down the ridge helping another student.
“Michelle, can you help me with this strike?” She smiled. Of course– this trip was all about learning. Each one of the students I spoke to about our experiences on the 2023 Death Valley trip said something similar.
“It was a little difficult to ask questions, but as soon as you understand that no one is judging you, it’s a perfect open environment,” third year geoscience student Jane Martinez said.
My experience was the same– at first, I felt in awe of the older students. They seemed to know exactly which questions to ask at each of the stops we made along the way, but I never felt too intimidated to ask my own questions. Every interaction was a reminder that science is not a competition, but a collaboration.
“At first, I was pretty shy too, but I just liked the fact that some of my upperclassmen helped me out with terms that I didn’t know and they were always giving me information on the simplest questions, and I really appreciated that,” said Daniel Abel, a third year geology major. “If I’m with someone new, I’m going to help them out as much as I can with the information that I have, so that they can get better and smarter with geology.”
This trip was an extremely valuable experience in that it allowed geology students to form bonds with their peers.
“I feel like I made a lot of really good friends over the trip and it’s kind of hard to do that sometimes,” Abel said. “I really appreciate that.”
Mark Hemphill-Haley has been associated with Humboldt’s geology department for decades, first as a student and then as a professor.
“The thing that excited me about geology when I first came to Humboldt was the enthusiasm that the department and the students shared about learning geology, and the depth of knowledge of the faculty and their excitement,” Hemphill-Haley said. “I think at Humboldt students in general are a little different than some other universities. You know, it’s a little harder to live here in some ways. So I feel like people that are here really want to get their life’s worth out of the programs. And so I just think that the students are special.”
Trips like Geology 110 and the connections made during those trips are what make Humboldt special. “The thing that I’ve noticed from when I was an undergrad to students now is, we’re still the same,” Hemphill-Haley said.
A few weeks ago, I got an email during work asking me to fill out a survey. The survey described how Cal Poly Humboldt is considering a commencement ceremony at a venue in another part of California. If I responded “yes,” I could be graduating closer to home. But Arcata has become my home now. If I were to graduate back in LA, yes, I would be surrounded by my mom, cousin, and childhood friends, but I think I would feel lost and disconnected. I would feel like something is missing, and that would be my peers.
While another graduation closer to home might sound ideal to those struggling financially, some are not pleased with the idea–myself included. For me, I want to graduate in the place where I attended my classes and made connections to help further my career. Where I formed friendships with my peers and roommates that will last a lifetime, laughed and cried about everyday life occurrences, and crossed paths with people from different backgrounds. I want to be in the place where I had not only a successful college experience, but also an adventure. Graduating in Humboldt county would fulfill my dreams.
My mom and I have been planning (and saving) for my college graduation and have started telling our loved ones where to go and when it is. When I told my mom about this survey, she was upset with me because she wanted to see me happy on my graduation day. She agreed that if I were to go back to LA I would be depressed because I would not have my peers by my side.
I have had my heart set on Humboldt since high school. It was my motivation to strive for the best. Many thought I was crazy, that I would not succeed and have many opportunities being in a rural small town. But Humboldt is where I saw myself smiling very big and wide, walking across that stage.
To have this survey sent to me felt like Humboldt stepped on my heart with high heels. It hurt. I was overthinking where graduation was going to happen. Is it actually going to happen? Am I going to walk the stage with my friends and mentors cheering me on to the next chapter of my life? Are me and my mom going to cross ‘Graduating Humboldt’ off my bucket list?
All I want is a graduation. But not just any graduation–a graduation proving that this first-gen Latinx student went farther than LA and explored their options in an area where people least expected.
I ended up saying that I want to graduate in Humboldt. Not only am I standing up for myself in the present but also to the 17-year-old who wanted just one thing: to attend Humboldt and be able to say, “I went there and came out as a whole new person. Mom, we did it.”
The Associated Students is holding a referendum on raising the AS fee on April 17. The AS fee is currently $58 per semester, and is paid by every student. The fee if the referendum passes will be $67.50 a semester.
The Associated Students funds a lot of things on campus, such as CCAT, the Womxn’s Resource Center, and Oh Snap, as well as the hardship fund that has paid for free meal swipes for students. The AS fee is their main source of funding. The proposed fee increase will raise their budget from $600,000 to $1 million dollars. The last few years, AS spending has exceeded $1 million, with the difference made up through various reserve and rollover funds. According to AS President Juan Guerrero, that option is completely exhausted. A fee increase is the best way to pay for all the services students want, allowing AS to keep the various jobs they pay for, as well as serve future students better. The proposed fee increase will make up the $400,000 difference entirely.
The last fee increase was in 2015, long before the current inflation. According to Guerrero, to treat students now with the same amount of care students have received in years past, AS needs more money.
“We’re not campus,” Guerrero said. “We’re student ran and student driven. Our impact is more substantial than campus, and we need to keep doing that…$19 isn’t a big ask if we want to ensure maximum employment and maximum opportunities.”
College basketball is complicated. The CCAA men’s conference is anything but predictable. As of late, this has not worked in Cal Poly Humboldt’s favor.
Currently, the women’s team is on a five game losing streak. They are placed ninth in the conference out of twelve schools, and are eliminated from conference tournament contention, as the top six teams make it in, all of which have already been decided.
That being said, there is also a positive side to the team’s situation. With this being their first time together as almost an entirely brand new team, it can’t be expected that everything will click immediately. They luckily have an offseason to improve with returning players.
“We didn’t have any seniors on our roster this year,” said head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. “There’s a lot of thought that’s gonna go into this offseason on how we can get better for next year.”
As for right now, the focus is simply on becoming a better basketball team. They travel to play Cal State San Marcos, a nationally ranked opponent, on Thursday. On Saturday they play at Cal State LA.
With only pride to play for at this point, Humboldt has an opportunity to play quality opponents without the pressure and bring two good showings to close out this season.
“We have everything to gain and nothing to lose going into these last two games on the road,” said Bento-Jackson. “You don’t always get opportunities to play ranked teams and we should be happy about that.”
The men’s team is a different story. They await the biggest games of their season away from home this coming weekend, also facing San Marcos on Thursday and LA on Saturday.
The Lumberjacks exited a four game home stand on a three game losing streak. Two days after a close win against Cal State East Bay on Feb. 9, in which Malek Davis made the go-ahead shot with 40 seconds to go, Humboldt lost in overtime to Cal State Dominguez Hills. This was a heartbreaker that left many fans and players wondering what went wrong in a very winnable game.
The following weekend, Humboldt led by as many as 14 against nationally ranked Cal State San Bernardino. They lost by one point.
This game was a head scratcher for several reasons. Not only had Humboldt led the whole game and been the better team, they also gave up seven straight points to close the game and lost an opportunity to significantly increase their conference tournament hopes.
“I thought we controlled the game and dominated for 39 minutes and 20 seconds,” said head coach Tae Norwood. “Credit to San Bernardino for pulling this one out.”
Two days later, a home loss against Pomona added significance to this final weekend of the season for the Jacks.
Humboldt still sits at third in the conference out of twelve schools, currently holding tiebreakers over San Francisco State and Sonoma State, teams with the same 10-10 conference record as the Lumberjacks. Six schools are racing for the final four conference tournament spots.
A minimum of one win this weekend would give them a very good chance to qualify for the conference tournament, depending on what happens with other teams. Winning both games would keep them in third place going into the tournament. Momentum is also an important factor at this time of a season.
“The team that’s the hottest late in the year is usually the team that wins the conference tournament, pending that all the teams are beatable,” said Norwood. “The league’s wide open.”
If there’s a time to turn it around, that time is now. The Jacks have a golden opportunity to earn a berth in the conference tournament.
On Feb. 4, CPH quietly updated the housing website without any notice to on-campus residents, leaving returning students to find out for themselves that they should not expect to live in the dorms or campus apartments for the remainder of their time at Humboldt.
On-campus housing will not be provided for any returning students. All on-campus housing will be reserved for new freshmen or transfers, starting in Fall ‘23. Should continuing students try to access housing through the university, they will be placed in temporary, off-campus housing.
“There was absolutely no email about it,” student Valeria Reggi said. “We found out by checking the website, which they updated with no warning.”
Due to a preexisting housing shortage that has left many students houseless, temporary options were explored in 2022 with the housing of over a hundred upperclassmen in the Comfort Inn motel.
A Feb. 6 email update stated that “because of the program’s success, we are excited to share that you now have the Super 8 and Motel 6 in Arcata as housing options managed by Cal Poly Humboldt.”
The email panicked current students, many of whom expected to return to on-campus housing in the fall. This prompted an immediate response. A post circulated on social media inviting students to gather that night to organize. At the meeting, a large crowd of students filled the Gutswurrack, voicing their concerns with over-enrollment and planning a protest scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 8.
Filling every square foot of available standing room, students even packed onto the balcony. Organizer Lars Hansen spoke using a megaphone, and called on members of the crowd to voice their opinions on the new policy.
“We wanna know what’s going to happen to our housing, what’s going to happen to our community, and what’s going to happen to Humboldt,” Hansen said.
“I can’t fathom why you guys are accepting this many students when you can’t support them,” student Julia Kurtz said.
She questioned the logic of reserving the on-campus housing for freshmen and incoming transfers.
“If you are proud enough to put your current students in that housing, you should be proud enough to put new students in that housing,” Kurtz said.
Humboldt has a well-documented problem with student houselessness, a situation that some students said the new on-campus housing rules will make worse.
“I can just sleep in my car on campus, because that’s not any shittier than living in a motel, and it’s 10 to 15 times cheaper,” student Sam Mah said.
Many are considering dropping or transferring out of Humboldt in the wake of this announcement, according to students in attendance.
“You have capacity that’s limited and you’re putting no limit on the flow,” Jack Williams said.
Some raised concerns that the massive influx of students into the community without adequate on-campus housing to support them would strain relationships between students, the University, and the community.
“It seems like you just shift responsibility of building up infrastructure onto the community,” Alan Cooper said.
One of the main issues brought up by students was the lack of basic amenities at proposed housing locations. The rooms at the Comfort Inn don’t have kitchens, which poses a serious problem for students on EBT and those with dietary restrictions.
Students with disabilities are concerned with accessibility at the temporary housing locations. They also raised the issue that those who gain access to on-campus housing through their accommodations would be outed as disabled to their peers.
“Every single upperclassmen that has disabilities or problems with mental health, what the fuck are they going to do with us?” one student asked.
Photo by Cash Rion | Students from all walks of life show up for the student homelessness protest at Cal Poly Humboldt on Feb. 6.
The University administration was represented at the meeting by the newly appointed vice president for Enrollment Management & Student Success, Dr. Chrissy Holliday, as well as Indian Tribal and Educational Personnel Program (ITEPP) coordinator Sasheen Raymond and Stephen St. Onge, Humboldt’s Executive Director of Auxiliary Services.
Several of the students speaking purposefully gave admin a chance to respond to their comments, but often their response was lost, drowned out by the large crowd and interrupted by jeers. Holliday especially struggled to be heard over the crowd completely filling the Gutswurrack.
They offered little reassurance or explanation of substance, but expressed their sympathy for students impacted, and their commitment to hearing student perspectives.
“We will come and get beat up over it if we need to,” St. Onge said.
He explained that they were being required by the CSU to enroll more students in order to get funding.
“Now you need to hit this FTE [full time enrollment] and draft a plan to do it,” St. Onge commented. “We’re looking at some different options, hopefully in a week or two we’ll have some more information.”
Recent rumors and apparent email leaks indicate that the University is considering the purchase of a barge that would moor at the Eureka docks and house 650 students. At one point during the meeting, alleged evidence of the barge plan was airdropped to attendees’ smartphones.
University officials did not respond when asked for comment.
At the end of the day, the damage to morale was already done. Students felt betrayed by the administration. The school’s liberal reputation and reported recent influx of cash seemed incongruous with what many perceived as a shocking disregard for the housing policy’s impact on continuing students. At the end of the meeting, there was a call to bring the protest to the Arcata City Hall on Feb. 16.
“I thought ‘this is a school that’s going to see me, that’s going to hear me,’” Haley Kitchman said. “I’ve lived in motels and it’s traumatizing. It’s not easy, and it’s not okay.”
Cal Poly Humboldt has a women’s rugby team for the first time since 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and some conflicts with the school kept them off the field for multiple years, but they are finally practicing again.
The team has practiced a total of six times in 2023, and despite their low amount of time playing together, the connections are good within the team.
“There’s a lot of relationship growth going on since our first practice,” said head coach Catalina León. “They’re finding their love for the sport.”
The team currently has just over 10 players, but León is hoping to extend their roster to at least 20 players.
“We have a small group now, but they’ve been coming consistently,” said León. “They’re really grasping the concept of the game and the skills needed.”
The enthusiasm was clearly present as Humboldt practiced on Monday night under the lights at Redwood Bowl, joking around and getting started on warmup drills upon arrival.
“We’re happy to be back,” said centre Courtney Campuzano. “I’m excited to see how the new season is gonna be.”
Their first game is not scheduled yet, however there is speculation of some friendly games coming soon.
“We have a lot of new players so we’re gonna have some friendly games going on,” said Campuzano. “We might do a tournament in Oregon.”
The Cal Poly Humboldt women’s rugby team practices at Redwood Bowl, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays.
“I encourage anyone who is interested to stop by even if you just want to learn more about the sport or team, you do not have to commit to us,” said fly-half Zelaya Ceja. “So far we have had lots of new faces that are sticking with the sport and are hungry to learn more.”
This team has a welcoming nature that is evident just from being around any of their practices.
“Community is a big part of rugby,” said Ceja. “It brings me joy knowing Humboldt women’s rugby is finally welcome back on campus.”
The first season back is viewed as a rebuild for Humboldt and the beginning of a potential-filled future.
“We’re looking forward to rebuilding the team and just hoping to have more players who enjoy working out and being part of a team sport,” said León.
Camile Nauta, a beloved CPH student and community member, was hit by a truck and killed while out walking their dog Wilson with friend Rune Kubbany on Jan. 17. Wilson was also killed in the accident, and Kubbany was hospitalized. Nauta was 21 years old.
They are already sorely missed by everyone who knew them. They were enigmatic and whimsical, described by many that knew them as a ‘fairy,’ a ‘cowboy,’ or a ‘forest creature.’
They’re remembered by everyone who knew them as a kind, quiet person, who sometimes came off as standoffish just because they were shy. They had a unique ability to make people comfortable and to bring out that joy in others, which they also reveled in.
Multiple people remember them for the silly accents that they loved to perform. They were an animal lover and a vegan. Taro smoothies, lying in the sun and spending time in nature were other things that Nauta loved.
Student Holly Ford described how familiar a part of the CPH world Nauta was.
“They’d walk through the forest and everyone knew them,” said Ford.
Dorm-mate Tommy Broedner remembers the quiet companionship that they shared with Nauta when they met in the kitchen, and many people mention how much they loved coffee. Girlfriend Elizabeth Edens describes them as constantly jittering.
“There’s not coffee grounds on the counter anymore,” Broedner said.
Nauta posing with a camera at College Cove during the first semester of their sophomore year, in 2020
Grayson Ford remembers how Nauta waited for them when they fell behind on walks in the forest. Others said how Nauta’s energy and compassion made them feel comfortable dancing at shows, something that Nauta was known to do with abandon.
Being a part of punk and local music subculture was important to Nauta. They were a regular at the Arcata music venue Blondies, went to various house shows, and loved dancing and moshing.
Edens went with Nauta to many local shows.
“They enjoyed being in the mosh pit a lot, they talked about it being like therapy for them,” Edens said. “They were always beautiful, it was great to see them in the pit because they’d always be having fun even on their own.”
People loved and were sometimes, at-first, almost intimidated by their intricate facial piercings, bright green mullet-hawk and patched clothes. The combination of a punk exterior and compassionate, loving interior is what defined their image.
“They styled themself as if they were a punk little forest goblin who occasionally engaged in witchcraft,” said their sibling, Lily Nauta. Nauta had a very close relationship with their sibling, who many described as their best friend.
They broke their arm in the mosh pit at a “Days N’ Daze” show, and sported a scar on their shoulder for the rest of their life.
Being queer and non-binary identity were very important to Nauta. They wore queerness on their sleeve, and found kinship, community, and love in the Humboldt queer community. The small size of this group in Humboldt is one reason why Nauta’s absence stings so keenly. They were known by most in the community.
“They were the best cheerleader for people finding their true gender identity and celebrated all of the things dominant culture shames queer people for,” Lily Nauta said. “They reclaimed it all and helped others do the same. They were the best lil nonbinary twink a guy could have the pleasure of knowing.”
A psychology major, Nauta was involved in many different programs at CPH. They were the first student intern from the school at local organization Queer Humboldt, where they helped to start a Discord chat server so queer people around the area could connect with each other.
Queer outreach was very important to Nauta, and they also worked on the Historic InQUEERies project teaching the queer history of historic people to classes in those related fields.
Nauta was always with their dog Wilson, who also was killed in the accident. Whenever possible, they were always together, whether in the forest, at school, or around town. After they got him in Summer 2022, his presence helped Nauta open up, according to roommate Shayne Jarvie.
“They started to kinda come out of their shell and be super goofy with everyone,” Jarvie said. “Everyone loved Wilson and Wilson loved everyone.”
“[Wilson and Nauta] were both each-other’s emotional support animals,” Edens said.
Nauta was very close with their family, whom they always nurtured. Their mother Lisa Nauta described how they nursed her back to health while she had COVID-19.
“Me, Lily, and Camile, we used to call each-other the three peas,” Lisa Nauta said. “They’ve always been a hugger, always giving love.”
“They’d offer to make the whole family tea nearly every night,” Lily Nauta said. “Words can’t describe how heartbroken we are and how much we’ll miss them.”
The natural world was one of Nauta’s loves. They spent much of their time in the forests surrounding campus or on the local beaches with friends. They found themself in nature. Jarvie said that Nauta was at peace while digging in the dirt, and feeling the sun.
At a Jan. 24 memorial held for them on campus, mourners braved the winter cold to gather outside.
Friend Charlie Deible spoke about Wilson at the memorial, stating that it’s what Camile would have wanted.
Many who knew them spoke while the sun set, and several stated that they will always see Nauta in the trees and in the stars.
“I can not imagine a more practical place for them to be than up hiding in the cracks and ridges of the trees,” Lily Nauta said. “Please continue to visit them and Wilson in the trees.”
Camile Nauta at Sue-Meg park in 2021, post-leaf coronation
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