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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1998)
Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1998 Clackamas student shines on Jeopardy UHIekncwn Jecpad/ Fads • Contestants stand on boxes to equalize height • Contestants play several "practice games" to train for the show • You cant buzz in until Alex stops talking! JOEL P. SHEMPERT Feature Editor Clackamas students who sat down to relax the day after Christmas and tuned in to Jeopardy may have recog nized a familiar face—Clackamas stu dent Nancy Hungerford-Levine, who embarked on the journey toward Jeop ardy contestanthood last March. “It’s all [Political Science Instructor] Dean Darris’ fault. I blame this all on him,” states the courageous 27-year- old. “I asked him a question in [US Government] class one day. He didn’t know the answer, so I went and looked it up.. .and he said, ‘That’s the kind of thing you would only need to know on TIMOTHY BELL / Clackamas Print Nancy Hungerford-Levine, ex-marine, political science student, and Jeopardy contestant, relaxes between classes by Barlow Hall. Jeopardy.’ So it’s his fault.” Hungerford-Levine reveals that Darris had even more to do with her Jeopardy odyssey than planting the seed. “It’s actually his fault that I passed that [Jeopardy tryout] test, too . . .one of the questions on the test I know I got right, and the only reason I got it right is because of that class,” Hungerford-Levine explains. No matter who is to “blame” for her appearance on Jeopardy, Hungerford- Levine’s own initiative drove her far in her quest. “I saw that they were having tryouts in the Seattle area, and you’re sup posed to send in a postcard, and if they select it, then you get to go to the try outs,” she says. “It was a really great experience,” Hungerford-Levine recalls. She adds that “the tryouts weren’t that hard. You go there and take a 50-question writ ten test. There’s a videotape of Alex Trebek asking the questions.” Hungerford-Levine passed the try outs, and in October traveled to the L.A. Jeopardy studio (paying her own travel and hotel costs, mind you) to tape the show. A regular Jeopardy viewer, the experience was nonetheless new to her. “You don’t get to see what you’re doing, so you don’t really know what you’re doing. It’s really strange using the button. You have to click the but ton after Alex is finished talking.. .You know everything at home, and you just yell it out—well, you can’t do that here,” Hungerford-Levine relates. “I don’t really remember what it’s like on there,” she continues. “It’s kind of a blur. I got to watch a lot of the other shows, because they tape five shows in one day, so I remember a lot more about that than when I was actually on.” Nancy Hungerford-Levine is of course now well-versed in all manner of behind-the-scenes Jeopardy knowl edge. A lot goes into the task of pre senting the smooth-running, well-oiled quiz-show machine viewers see on their TV sets every weekday. “I was standing on a box,” Hungerford-Levine cites as one ex ample. “They want you all to be the same height, so to equalize it out me and this other girl, Joyce, were stand ing on boxes.” There were other idiosyncrasies to the show’s production. “I was mainly concerned with not tripping when I got on stage, because they literally push you on that stage. When you see contestants walking in sort of chilled out, well, you have the stage manager behind you going, boom! ‘Now entering the studio...’” says Hungerford-Levine with a smile. “Everybody wants to know how Alex Trebek is,” Hungerford-Levine says. “I didn’t talk to him for very long.” She did have a humorous exchange with the host during the between-round on- air banter, telling how she met her hus band in a V.A. Hospital, riding on his lap down wheelchair ramps. Of course, it’s even more likely that everyone is wondering, “How much did she win?” While she had a slow start in the first round, Hungerford- Levine gained momentum in Double Jeopardy, pulling swiftly ahead from last place to a good lead. Final Jeopardy proved to be her un doing. She correctly answered the ques tion yet made a classic Jeopardy bet ting error, only wagering $200 and al lowing the other contestants to regain their leads. In all, though, she conducted herself with poise and confidence. She took home consolation prizes including a vacuum cleaner and camcorder. When Nancy Hungerford-Levine told Jeopardy staff she was a political sci ence student, they responded, “What can you do with a political science de gree?” Thanks again to Darris, Hungerford-Levine is now supplied with answer: “Oh, I don’t know, change the world?” Machine shop Beekeeping takes ELC by swarm instructor has Clackamas roots LAURA ARMSTRONG Staff Writer MIKECHESLAR Contributing Writer Clayton Smith, a machine shop instructor specializing in CNC (computer numeric code) programming, milling and turning, is a former student of the college who successfully made the transition from school to industry. Smith got a job working for a major manufacturing shop after he left Clackamas, and 15 years later he is still work ing for Cornell Pump, a machine shop located in Milwaukie. As a part-time instructor, Smith splits his very busy sched ule by working during the day and teaching evenings Mon day and Wednesday. He enjoys teaching, and describes the working environment at the school as pleasant. But it is also hard for him being a full-time employee for a manufactur ing plant. “The downside of working full time and teaching part time is that it is wearing mentally and physically,” Smith said. The CNC machine class that he teaches is available to anyone interested in working in the manufacturing indus try. Most of the students taking the class or who want to take the class are involved in the machine shop industry, either working for a company or planning to work for one in the near future. As a whole, Smith said he likes what the college is doing for the manufacturing industry. He did say, though, that there should be prerequisites to take the class, such as basic math and computer skills. Is taking this class enough to prepare a student for the real working environment? It doesn’t duplicate on-the-job training, Smith said. “College, being a learning institution, is naturally shel tered and can’t be like a manufacturing plant.” Smith said he wants to spend more time teaching at Clackamas when he retires. ¡Wednesday, January 21,1998 Have you heard the buzz on cam pus? The Lakeside Hall of the Envi ronmental Learning Center will be host to a swarm of students taking a bee keeping course starting Jan. 20. Instructor Glen Mills is going to teach the course through the winter term at Clackamas. Student Marcia Sinclair is interested in it for several reasons. Like many others, Sinclair keeps a couple of bee colonies for a personal hobby. She hopes to gain knowledge from the ex pert instructor on how to maintain a hive in Oregon’s wet climate. “Bees are complex little critters,” said Sinclair. “It takes a lot of experience to know what to look for in colonies.” Mills, who worked at OMSI for sev eral years, has a background in bee keeping. Enrolled students may or may not know of his expertise, but are in store for an exciting and educational course in beekeeping. Joyce Sanders of the ELC said that Mills is well-known as a bee wrangler and wasn’t surprised when both classes for the course filled up in a week. There is a fee of $45 for students en rolled in this specific class. The fee covers a text book and numerous hand outs detailed to starting up hives and equipment needed to maintain the hives. There most likely will not be any real hives on campus. There may be a sample of a mock-hive that will be used for study. The course is primarily set up for classroom study. Sinclair also mentioned that Mills’ years of experience will help her to be able to recognize specific problems that might arise in her bee colonies. Given certain weather conditions the bees tend to feel cramped and they start to swarm. They divide and separate, and the colony owners lose half of their colony. There are identifiable patterns that beekeepers can recognize to pre vent this. This skill of detection is one of many that Mills’ students will learn through his course. Enrolled students surely have their own individual reasons for taking the course. Varied information will be of fered to suit their special needs. Of all the different reasons to raise bees, though, Marcia Sinclair sums them up best. “Bees are absolutely fascinating to watch,” she said. The modular facilities near Randall Hall are served only by this portable toilet, a sign of the turmoil created by water intrusion problems in Clackamas buildings.
