Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2001)
8_________ Feature WedwEsdAy, OcTobeR 10, 2001 TI he CI ac I íamas P rínt Former language instructor organizes Puerto Rican exchange SALENA DE LA CRUZ Opinion Editor In an attempt to foster friendship between Oregonians and Costa Ricans, Clackamas will welcome Costa Rican professionals for the 14,h year as part of the cultural ex change program known as Costa Rican Partners of America. Cariota Holley, former foreign language instructor at Clackamas, formulated the idea for this pro gram in 1964 through an idea of President John F. Kennedy. Ac cording to Holley, he called for a bond of friendship to strengthen the alliance between America and Costa Rica. This was known as the Alliance for Progress Agenda. “I presented the idea to Oregon and they sent me to Washington, the capitol, and they funded me to go to Costa Rica for three months," said Holley. "Thefirst year... we had 32 participants, but had to put a cap on It after that because it got too hectic. " Cariota Holley former Language Instructor Even though Holley is no longer with Clackamas, she has involved the Spanish Club and the new ad visor, Irma Bjerre, in this event. Holley and the Costa Ricans will be on campus at the Environmen tal Learning Center on Oct 15 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. They will then share a lunch, called “Entre Amigos,” where all are welcome. Immediately following the lunch, they will be visiting Spanish classes from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. There will be 20 retired Costa Rican professionals visiting. They will be staying for a month. There are varied activities that will- take them back and forth from Portland, to Salem, to Hood River and Mt. Hood. “The first year we did this pro gram we had 32 participants, but had to put a cap on it after that because it got too hectic,” said Holley. According to Holley, the pro gram has had well over 600 partici pants, including former college President John Keyser and his daughter. Oregon is the first state to effec tively offer a retired persons cul tural exchange program. “We have been the only state that has been able to do this because it takes a lot of work and responsibility,” added Holley. Oregonians have the opportu nity to be a part of this program. There are two choices: host or be hosted. This means one can either go to Costa Rica and live with someone there for a month or have a Costa Rican stay at one’s house fora month. To gain knowledge and friend ship through this cultural ex change, contact Cariota Holley at (503) 639-3346 or e-mail her at jholley@pacinter.net. Liberia Nicoya San Isidro GRAPHIC BY LIESL MUGGLI AND LUKE MAHAN I Clackamas Print Haggart Observatory opens to a new light ELISABETH MEYER Staff Writer ELISABETH MEYER / Clackamas Print Young visitors peer into the newly reopened Haggart Observatory telescope during the Fall Celebration to welcome the public. A Fall Celebration at the Envi ronmental Learning Center marked the ceremonial reopening of the Haggart Observatory to the pub lic Saturday evening. After a two year closure for re pairs, the ELC managed through donations to make the telescope accessible again, and hoped that the Fall Celebration, with its host of activities for the community, would raise the center’s profile. Although the observatory has been in operation since May, the center decided to wait until fall to officially welcome the public. The telescope, which was built by the late Harold Haggart in 1941, was donated by his widow Darcy Haggart in 1987. Two years ago, officials discovered dry rot in the timber structure supporting the telescope. Tneoriginal mechanical parts were still in good shape. Because the ELC receives only a third of its funding from the col lege, it had to find resources else where. “We rely on grants, private do nations and program fees, to oper ate at all,” said John LeCavalier, di rector of the ELC. Like the original structure, the new 45 foot struc ture, required to lift the telescope above the trees, had to be built of donated materials. The break through came when College Foun dation Board member Gordon Day, president of Day Wireless, secured the donation of the steel and labor from Andersen Construction. "The highlight of the celebration is certainly the tele scope. " Alison Heimowitz Education Coordinator Coast. Crane, the company that moved the telescope to the center originally, pitched in a second time. LeCavalier and his staff estimate the total donation of materials and labor have amounted to $ 158,000. Beyond this, he adds that the hand ful of volunteers who guide visi tors to the observatory - six active ones, and three or four folks who help out when they can- have con tributed thousands of dollars’ worth of time explaining to new skywatchers just what they’re see ing through the lens. Activities on Saturday started off with a barbecue of free-range tur key and gardenburgers. Hawk Ha ven, a rehabilitation center for predatory birds, displayed several birds. ELC staffer Savina Darzes gave a lecture on bats of the Northwest, while Education Co ordinator Alison Heimowitz taught how to identify animals in the dark by the color of their eye shine. Walks along the bank of Newell Creek let visitors see and hear the natural inhabitants of the center. “The highlight of the celebra tion is certainly the telescope,” said Heimowitz. But the ELC is hoping to make this a “first an nual” event. “The work’s really just begun. Now we have a telescope but we have to maintain it, making it use ful to the public,” commented LeCavalier. “We need to develop and im prove programs like the one with the (Oregon City) school dis trict... we want to reach out to the community.”
