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.”