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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.”