Introducing the Newman Blog

Originally drafted January 24, 2025, Published 2/25/2025 (better late than never lol). 

Goodbye Fall '24, Hello Spring '25

Goodbye Fall '24, and hello Spring '25! Let's remember some of the highlights of the last semester. In October, our homecoming weekend was headlined by The Beach Boys, or what's left of the Beach Boys. According to Newman member Daniel Francois, two of the original line-up were there, Mike Love and someone else. I forgot. But I'm pretty sure Brian Wilson wasn't there. However, the word among the students is that the band was mostly the sons of the original Beach Boys. Regardless of whether they were really the Beach Boys, or whether it's more a Dead & Company successor band type-thing, they played all the standard hits, the classic Pet Sounds sound, reminiscing about growing up in 1960s SoCal. Songs about youth, surfing, the optimism of young love, and carefree beach culture were being played against the backdrop of the aging hippies, redwood trees, and the neurotic young college students. Songs that many of the students' Gen X parents would've considered classics, that now seem antiqued to Zoomer college kids. But we, the Newman Club, love the Beach Boys, everyone loves the Beach Boys.

In addition, to old surf rock bands, in December, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake reached Humboldt County. However, by the time it reached Arcata, the quake had weakened. The local government issued a cellphone tsunami warning, reminding me of that Beach Boys' song Don't Go Near the Water. But, lucky for us, the warning was rescinded later that day.

Through all these events, the Humboldt Newman club continued to operate, our Center located in Arcata, walking distance from the Cal Poly Humboldt campus. Our club exists as part of a loose network of Newman Clubs established at non-Catholic colleges. The mission of these clubs is to offer Catholic community to college students. Most of the time, they exist as religious social clubs. The Newman Center at Cal Poly Humboldt on the other hand focuses on being a living community of Catholics that encourage each other in their faith. Many folks, either cradle Catholics or fresh to the faith, can deepen their faith with bible studies, community service opportunities, talks, and faith based discussions that are common at the Cal Poly Humboldt Newman Center. 

While these Newman Clubs are united by mission, the character of each Newman Club is unique, formed by the students that attend, its leadership, resources, its associated college, and the greater surrounding area. Like how coffee may be overappreciated beverage at the Newman Club at Brigham Young University, at the Humboldt Newman Club, you can only access the outside water faucets at our Center with a key because in the past people would steal our water to grow marijuana nearby. A fun quirk, for sure.

I'll share another thing about the Humboldt Newman Club. At the time of writing, Kieran Stack is our club president, who succeeded former club president Quinlan House because of a power struggle at the end of the Spring '24 semester in which Daniel Francois challenged Quinlan for the position. During the club's election, Daniel caught Quinlan off-guard with an impromptu speech, disrupting what would have been an easy reelection for Quinlan. The other members were moved by Daniel's efforts, becoming interested in electing a new member for the position of club president, but were not convinced Daniel should take the position. In the struggle, Kieran emerged as the third option. At the time, she was a freshman but was one of the most active members. She was also not Quinlan or Daniel. So, after the vote, Kiernan was elected to president, Quinlan elected to vice president, and Daniel was elected to treasurer.

However, the more significant change for the club was the new cohort of active members that the Fall '24 semester brought, Liam Russell, Moises Ortiz, Jake LaBarre, and me, Anthony Morrison. Some highlights of the last semester specific to our club include Strawberry Rock Hike, volunteering at the Hoopa reservation, bowling at Harbor Lanes, and smashing pumpkins at the Halloween party. But now it's the beginning of the Spring '25 semester, and in the next few months we will all gain a new set of memories and experiences, and Humboldt Newman will be here through it all. Come join us sometime. Good luck to you all, hello Spring '25!

-  Written by Anthony Morrison, edited by Quinlan House.