Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2000)
6________ Feature WEÓNEsdAy, ApRil 5, 2000 TL ie CI ac I< amas P rìnt Desert education: an experience to remember PHOTO BY BOB PORTER Twenty-eight students, three instructors and three honored guests braved the desert over spring break for The Natural History of the SW Desert class. The students, brought together by their interest in science, explored the history, flat lands, hills, vegetation and wildlife of Death Valley National Park. MEGAN OLDENSTADT Managing Editor What happens when you get 35 people together with a common goal in mind...They have a kick-ass time. Over spring break (March 16-25) I went to Death Valley, located in Cali fornia with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. The adventure was led by John Snively, a geology instructor (see profile below), Jennifer Porter, a biol ogy instructor and Bill Guthrie, a friend of the science department. The Natural History of SW Deserts - yes it is a graded class- is an on-site study of the plants, ani mals, geology, and environmental issues of the Mojave and Great Ba sin Deserts of the Western United States. Ok, now that the basics are out of the way, let me tell you what the trip is really about. It is about lov ing science, learning about your self and creating lasting memories. It takes two days of driving through Nevada (more than 900 miles) to reach the national park known as Death Valley. Five days are spent camping in a canyon lo cated in the park. And two days driving home. Our days were spent learning. Birds and plants were identified, rock formations analyzed and can yons were explored. The nights were devoted to dinner, summarizing our daily activities in our journals, and chatting around the fire. The weather was nice, the sun was hot and the wind, well I think "windy" is an understatement. The wind decided to play games with us one night. I don't think any one got much sleep, because it's hard to sleep when your tent is pelt ing you in the head for hours on end. We flattened the tents the follow ing day, because the wind will rip them to shreds. Several tents were lost that night (and will be dearly missed). The following night, people crowded in the vans or on picnic tables to sleep. Several people braved putting their tents back up, but the majority of them stayed flattened. Besides learning about the area, making new friends and soaking up the sun, creativity snuck up on us. Poets, song writers and musicians crept their way out of the rocks and dazzled us with their talent (see fol lowing page). This was an experience I can hardly start to explain in so few words. I can't even come close to giving justice to something that truly changed me. If you want to find out more about this amazing trip, talk to John Snively, Jennifer Porter or any stu dent who has gone on the trip over the last 25 years. I'm sure they will all tell you how one class, in the desert, can change someone's life forever. John Snively reveals nature's wonders through field trips PHOTO BY MATT BROWN John Snively, currently a geology teacher at Clackamas, makes learning fun through his hands-on field trips, especially the spring break Death Valley Trek. PATTYEZENSEN Contributing Writer Clackamas geology teacher John Snively knows why volcanoes erupt, what makes the earth shake and where the Columbia River once flowed. He will gladly share this informa tion with anyone who takes one of his geology classes, which he re fers to as “the science classes where you don’t need math,” making them popular with the non-science as well as science majors. To be a teacher was always Snively’s goal. “I got my Bachelor of Science and thought about teaching high school,” Snively said. He enrolled in the teaching pro gram at Portland State University and earned his teaching certifi cate. From there he taught at Beaverton High School, where he discovered that he enjoyed teach ing and the kids liked him. In spired by this successful en deavor, he attended graduate school at PSU, where he was a teaching assistant. After he finished graduate school roughly 25 years ago, thing. Snively began teaching commu “They often see personal growth nity college classes. He has taught and gain maturity on the trips.” at all the community colleges in the When asked how the annual area, teaching as many classes as Death Valley trek came about, he could. Snively explained that in 1972, “I basically monopolized all the when he was a graduate student at full-time jobs in the area,” Snively PSU, he wanted to teach a course. commented. During that time he However, the biology department taught both geology and biology. would not allow their graduate stu “I am a biologist, that’s what I dents to teach. He asked his advi have my degree in, but I enjoy sor and mentor Dr. Forbes to let teaching both,” he stated. him run a trip under his name and Snively began at Clackamas was given permission for a spring teaching biology part time. A part break field trip. Snively looked for time geology position opened, so a place to go, but soon realized that he added it to his schedule. everywhere he wanted to go would “Since I had been here the long be under snow in March. Death est I got to do Valley, the ma what I wanted,” jority of it be Snively said. ing in California, One of the was a place they highlights of the could go that geology and biol time of year. He ogy programs for had never been many students is there so he the field trips drove to Death Snively plans Valley over win each year. These ter break and trips range from spent a week one day outings learning about in the Columbia it. Snively took Gorge to a 10 day a group from trip to Death Val PSU that year ley over spring and since then break. Snively has taken a MEGAN OLDENSTADT/ Clackamas Print feels that for him Snively shows the creation group of stu the trips are the of the Valley in the sand dents every most rewarding dunes located in the Park single spring part of teaching. break for the “To me, when I see people with past 25 years. out focus go on the field trips and “I think I have taken more people it all makes sense [to them], they to Death Valley than any other change their majors.” He notes single person,” he said. that even the people who don’t While the field trips and the change their majors still gain some sparks he ignites in students are the most rewarding parts of teach ing, a down side does exist, the lack of motivation in some stu dents. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. We have a lot of student horses. You keep giving them water, but they won’t drink,” stated Snively. If there is one thing he hopes students get from his classes, it is an enrichment of their lives. He shows them the Earth, how it func tions and where they fit in, “People need to believe it to see it,” is one of Snively’s favorite say ings, and his classes are taught with that in mind. In his time off, Snively runs tours to Peru or Costa Rica. He likes to go to the Arctic, Northwest Terri tories, The Yukon and British Co lumbia to run rivers in his canoe. Snively is nearing his retirement. He says he might stop teaching in three to four years. He is not cer tain what he will do when he is no longer teaching, but feels travel ing will be a factor. Next year Snively will take a year long sab batical.
