Gold Rush's Dave Turin LBCC Speech

Contributed by: Discovery Channel

With microphone in hand, Dave Turin advocated the need for associate degrees to replenish the workforce.

Dave Turin, from Discovery Channel's "Gold Rush" series, spoke at LBCC on Thursday, Feb. 16, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., in the Forum room 104.

Turin was dubbed "Dozer Dave" in "Gold Rush," and about 80 to 100 people attended his speech.

Turin, talking with his hands like his true Italian self, said, "Our duty is to... give back to our communities and community colleges."

"We have a shortage in skilled people who will do the work [for trade jobs]," said Turin.

Turin is concerned that there is too much emphases on four-year college, and that too many end up in debt without jobs.

Turin graduated from Portland State University with a bachelor in Civil Engineering, and was a college football star.

Turin describes his education as the "School of Hard Knocks" and that he believed going to a two-year trade course might have done him more good than a four-year degree.

Turin got into the mining business because his father owned the business Mt. Hood Rock Jim Turin and Sons Inc. Turin and his three brothers, Dan, Dennis and Doug bought the business from their father because they didn't want their father to be their boss. Turin soon realized that the new company wasn't what he ultimately wanted. Turin met Todd Hoffman, the head of the "Gold Rush" team, before Hoffman went up to Alaska to find gold and start filming.
 

In June 2010, the year after meeting, Hoffman needed Turin to fix some of his mining equipment. Turin went to Alaska and joined the team.    

Turin explains that while on the job the men would pray.

"We're men of faith, we believe there's a God," said Turin. "The minute you say you're a Christian, you're marked for good or bad."

With this in mind, Turin was amazed that so many people had watched the series.

"We always put things back," Turin said, especially in the jungle of Guyana.

In Guyana, the crew was able to show the local miners how to mine without using mercury, so that the people wouldn't get poisoned.

After the 30-minute speech, Turin took questions from the audience. The audience asked Turin general questions about the TV show, and why he advocated for trade school.

In one of the questions about diminishing work ethic, Turin answered "I have faith in young people, then he shared his belief in the need to teach kids work ethic from day one.

Student Casey Hoff, one of the audience members, stated that they were at the speech, "Because we watched the series since it came out" and that he had "Found out about [the speech] on the LB website."

David Becker, the dean of Business Applied Technology and Industry, explained that the speech was a part of the Career Technical Education (CTE) signing day. The signing day allows students to sign up for the CTE program. During this two-year program, students will learn a trade, and most likely have a job as soon as they graduate.

"There is such a void in trained work force," said Becker.

This program aims to help to fill it, and the event was well-known.

"People flew here from all across the country," said Becker.

Turin is advocating programs like this all over the United States because he wants to solve the problem of the blue collar work force shortage.
 

As the former "Gold Rush" star advised: "You don't need a four-year education to make a lot of money."

At a Glance:

Topic: Dave Turin LBCC speech.
Who: Dave Turin and LBCC's CTE program administrators.
When: Feb. 16, 2017
Where: Forum room 104

500 Word Blog for Media and Society

Topic #3 -- YouTube/Vimeo Constance Jones

Describe:

1) I was at home after my classes around 3:00p.m, on 2-09-2017 watching Rhett and Link's channel Good Mythical Morning.

2) I guess you would consider GMM a talk show, but it feels more personal.

3) There full names are, Rhett McLaughlin and Charles Lincoln "Link" Neal.

4) Rhett and Link are originally from North Carolina, and have known each other since early school. They have created several videos, including their morning series "Good Mythical Morning". The USA Today did a "Talking Tech" article stating "The twist is that unlike many of their counterparts, they actively work with companies to have the videos mention or even lampoon a product" (Jefferson Graham). In the "Webby Awards" article "5 More Things You Should Know About Rhett and Link" by the Webbys, they stated "In a feat of video editing mastery, “2 Guys 600 Pillows” was awarded not one, but 2 Webby Awards in 2011."

5) Rhett and Link have been sponsored by McDonald's, Geico, Carpenter co., and Sleep Better. These are just some of their sponsors.

Analyze:

1) For GMM, Rhett and Link dress casually, and have their cups of coffee ready. They have a small corner set, that has been made to look professional, but still cozy. In general, GMM isn't edited, only if there is unnecessary footage and they need to cut the time down. I would describe it as a cozy talk show.

2) Rhett and Link are unique as they seem to have access to more money than most youtubers, taking their videos a notch up. Joey Graceffa has a channel with similar videos to some of the newer narrative videos by Rhett and Link.

 .  Storytellers - Hunters Ep.1

3) I think that Rhett and Link have a wider variety of videos they have on their channel. Ranging from talk show, narrative, music videos, and advertisements. 

INTERPRET:

1) In one episode of GMM, it was generally assumed that jerky was more of a "man" thing. They didn't seem to realize how many kind of people like jerky, I think that they were just basing it off their own experiences. They are in general good about keeping stereotypes away.

2) There was mostly make up, jewelry, Focus Features shows, and McDonald's adds were playing before the shows. I guess these are applicable to many people, because all of these had something a "typical American family" might want. On the other hand, these adds seem random and forced.

3) Rhett and Link film in L.A., but they started in North Carolina. Their videos got better when they moved out to L.A., because they were able to get more sponsors. The adds in the videos themselves are usually just casually dropped in, so that not too much time is spent on it. Sometime the product placement is almost treated like a joke, so that it becomes part of the comedy.

Evaluate:

1) Rhett and Link generally just give entertaining videos, whether that be information, music video, or adds. They keep updates on all social media events and changes, which helps people know who they are, and what they're doing. The add they do never seem like adds, like the pillow commercial they did just seemed like a really cool video some companies helped to make to have fun.

2) I can talk to people about GMM to people, because it is entertaining to people. They tend to stay away from controversial subjects, so there isn't much to worry about when suggesting them it too a friend. One time Rhett and Link ate an octopus pie,  and it made them seem really passionate about their job, because they ate it.

 3) I couldn't find any "professional comments" on them really, but people generally like these videos it seems from the comments.

Engage:

1) I watch this channel often. My sisters watch it, and many of my friends do as well. One of my older sisters actually introduced me to them with their old morning show "Good Morning Chia Lincoln".

2) I've commented a couple of times on their channel, in fact their one of the few places I do comment. Sometimes I like to read the comments on this channel, but I usually don't have time.

3) Good Mythical Morning has a twitter. It has has about 692k followers, and they all seem to be active on it. They announce events, and previous videos, which many people tweet about.

Conclusion: 

1) Social media is very important for youtubers, and you need to know you're audience in order to make successful content.

2) One thing I learned from blogging this, is that they have more videos than I previously thought, and they have a wide range of genres and subjects.

Weekly LBCC Culture Tables

Courtesy ELCI Albany.com 

There were cookies and smiles at the first Culture Table meeting of the term.

Every Wednesday at noon to 12:50 p.m., a group of people meet to discuss cultures from around the world.

The group started a couple of years ago in the library.

Headed by LBCC staff Clare Sobotka and Kim Sullivan, the culture tables discuss a subject each week to understand what students experiences are.

"The whole point is for international and domestic students to broaden their global view," Sullivan said.

Wednesday, Feb. 2, the topic was on TV and movies, but the subject changed and developed into discussions about other subjects.

There were about 11 people at the event, actively engaged in the conversation.

Rob Lewis, a math teacher at LBCC, was attending. This year he is taking five students to China to teach English.  

  

The Culture Tables might merge into the Global Connections club, if attendance is still low Spring Term.

This Fall term the culture tables are alternating meeting places between the Diversity Achievement Center (DAC), and the English Language and Culture Institute (ELCI).

The DAC is next to the Commuter News Office in the second story of the Forum, and the ELCI is in a separate building behind the greenhouse. They would love to have people join and learn about cultures from around the world.

As of now, they are taking a break for the term, and will resume a few weeks after term starts.

If you want to eat food and learn about other cultures join the Culture Tables.

At a Glance:

What: Culture Tables at LBCC
When: Wednesdays at 12:00 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. 
Members: Kim Sullivan and Clare Sobotka
Kim Sullivan's Office: RCH 122
Clare Sobtoka's email: sobotkc@linnbenton.edu