Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2001)
y______ Fpaturp -_______________ — _______ “■ TI he ClAckAMAS P rint WsdNEsdAy, N ovem B er 7, 2001 English instructor writes new chapter in his life MAGGIE JIRASEK Editor-in-Chief Tim Schell, writer and En glish instructor, is leaving Clackamas at the end of fall term. He will be moving to Al buquerque, New Mexico, where he wants to continue teaching. Since his early days, Schell, who grew up in the Portland area, has always had a passion for writing and traveling. “I always wanted to travel and to write,” explained Schell. “One year while I was still in high school, my family moved to Europe, and we just traveled around for a whole year. That was great.” Throughout his visit to Eu rope, Schell lived in various places, including England, Portugal, Italy, Sweden and France, where he attended school in Paris. “It was a great opportunity, and I had a lot of fun,” said Schell. In 1978, after earning his bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Oregon, Schell joined the Peace Corps and went on a journey to Bangui. Af rica. “I knew I wanted to go to Africa, and I knew the Peace Corps could get me there,” in formed Schell. Being a Peace Corps volunteer, Schell de cided that the most practical skill he had to offer was teaching. “I went to teacher training for three months and then started teaching. I absolutely fell in love with it,” explained Schell. “I kind of backed into a career in education, almost by acci- dent.” Living in a house built on stilts, Schell neither had run ning water nor electricity avail able to him. “I didn’t need it. It was a great experience and I had a wonderful time,” he said. According to Schell, by teaching children who were too poor to afford textbooks and who had to walk 15 kilometers to school every day, barefoot and hungry, he realized the im portance of his job. “The kids knew that the only possibility to get out of the vil lage was education, so they loved school and they worked really hard,” said Schell. “They really enjoyed learning. They needed to learn, and I had the ability to teach them. I think that’s how I got excited about teaching." After returning to Oregon two years later, Schell worked as a journalist for a while and wrote for a magazine. He soon got bored with it and went to Japan, where he was offered a job teaching junior high school children in Tokyo. In 1987, Schell came back to Oregon, where he soon was hired as part-time instructor at Clackamas. He didn’t stay long though. In 1989, he went to Arizona where he com pleted his master’s degree at Arizona State University and taught some classes at the same time. Moving back to Oregon, Schell was hired as full-time instructor English Clackamas in 1995. “I have been here since. I was supposed to be on sabbatical this year, but then my wife got this great job offer which re quires us to move to Al buquerque,” explained Schell. “It was a very difficult decision to make because I really like Clackamas. It’s a great college with a Schell will be moving to Albu querque at the end of De cember I and he definitely wants to con tinue teaching and writ ing. “I might be teaching some fiction writing classes in spring at the University of New Mexico,” said Schell. “I wasn’t planning on teaching that soon, but I think it will be fun. I just love being in a classroom and I | enjoy being with stu dents.” Students will remem ber Schell for his cre ative teaching style and his friendly per sonality. “Tim Schell is a very fun person. I took his class two years ago and he still says 'hi' to I me when he sees me in the hallway,” said Kira Whiting, one of Schell’s former stu- jj dents. Ten years from MIKE POLLOCK / Clackamas Print^ ? f 1 now, Schell still sees himself teaching and writing. “I can see myself retiring from teaching and a full-time job, but I would always want to go and teach a few creative writing classes because it’s so much fun,” said Schell. “As far as writing, I would never retire. It’s just something I do, you just don’t retire from breathing. I can’t imagine ever not writ ing.”
