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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2003)
The Clackamas Print February 19, 2003 Jen Nelson pursues dreams, change through extracurricular activities and political activism Design Editor nature anyway, and we’ll get into a hot topic and my parents won’t even talk politics with me anymore.” Nelson describes Brennan as not only a mentor but also a friend. “He’s taught me so much, and been a shoul der to cry on when I needed it,” she said. This year Nelson has served as the president of Phi Theta Kappa. As president her job to is to facilitate meetings and make sure things are going according to plan. “It’s been a huge learning experi ence. I have some amazing officers,” Nelson said. Jen Nelson’s goal in life is simple: she wants to change the world; she says this with a clarity and determina tion not found in many people her age. This determination has driven her academic and extra-curricular involvement at Clackamas the past two years. Nelson joined the speech team winter term last year. “Initially, I was just looking for a way to pay for school. I didn’t want to pay for it and I knew I had the qualifi cations to do something to pay for it, so I went to Kelly Brennan and asked if there was any way to get a scholar ship and he said ‘Yes, definitely.’” She started speech team with no prior experience, and describes her first tournament as very nerve-wrack ing. “I was never very confident at all speaking publicly,” Nelson said “Kelly [Brennan] said it was just a ‘get your feet wet’ kind of tourna ment. I didn’t take home any prizes, Currently, she is working towards but from there I learned the ins and the International Phi Theta Kappa outs.” Success was not far off. Last year Convention in Anaheim, Calif. The Nelson took home a national champi event will focus on health and feature onship with her persuasive speech on speakers from the American Cancer lifting the sanctions on Iraq. She also Society. Some ideas Nelson has for fundraising are a battle of the bands took home two state championships in and a golf tournament. interpretive. “We have some fun stuff “They’re all so fun,” said Nelson. “Like debate, it’s funny because I’ll planned,” she said. As for reaching her lofty future go home, and I’m argumentative by ERJNN LERTEN Clackamas Print Jennifer Nelson, CCC student and national award-winning speech team member, strives to change the world as she continues to educate herself. Despite being offered a full-ride_ scholarship to Lewis and Clark College she is considering other schools. goals, Nelson is already planning. She’s been offered full scholarships to several schools including Lewis and Clark. “Lewis and Clark will give me a full ride if I do speech and debate, but I don’t know if I want to tie myself to that. I’m tom between going to an amazing undergraduate program. That would be Columbia or New York University. There are some really awesome schools on the east coast. Or it’s a matter of knowing someone who will get me into the graduate pro gram,” Nelson said. She has been heavily involved with the Political Science department as Dean Danis’ student and teaching assistant, as well as with the Conscious Citizens’ Coalition. “It’s great to have that expertise,” she said in reference to Darris, “to just be able to soak it up.” Although she loves speech and debate, Nelson’s desire to be political ly active is driving her to pursue that avenue. “I really would like to be able to focus more on international law and diplomacy,” she said. Nelson describes her future plans using words like activism, lobbying, and Congress. “As far as career plans, who I’m going to work for, I have no idea,” Nelson said. “I know I don’t want to close the door to possibilities.” Clackamas instructor, Vietnam veteran Widerburg compares current conflicts to past war experiences •The potential war with Iraq has Vietnam veter an Widerburg remem bering the past and worrying about the future The recent onslaught of news about the chance of a war in Iraq has many Americans afraid of what may happen in the near future, but how do genera tions that fought in past wars feel about what is going on in the world right now? Allen Widerburg, an English teacher at Clackamas who fought in Vietnam, shared his war experience and his feelings about the possible war with Iraq. “It’s a very scary time,” Widerbuig said. “Saddam needs to be stopped. The president of Korea needs to be stopped. There are 26 wars going on in the world right now, and terrorists are spreading.” Widerbuig was drafted to go fight in Vietnam in 1967. He was given 30 days to prepare to be shipped off to war. He didn’t try to get out of fighting because he had just gotten married. He knew that he could either fight in Vietnam for a year, or go to jail for five years. Widerbuig was told that he was going to be sent to a place that hadn’t seen any combat yet. He was sent there, but was quickly transferred eight miles away from Cambodia and was in the line of fire the entire year he was there. “Right after I got sent home our base got overrun and my friends got shot up,” Widerbuig said. When Widerburg returned home the whole country was in turmoil. Many vets were protesting against the war, and for good reason. President Nixon said he had a plan for peace, but it was over five years before it achieved peace. He falsely told the American people that they were being bombed, just to get the country to support him. Widerburg attended PSU when he returned home. People were protesting all over and being clubbed for it “These days remind me of that a lit tle bit,” Widerbuig said. If this war breaks out it will be a dif ferent war than Vietnam. Both armies are more technologically advanced now. Also, Widerburg said in Vietnam it was mostly jungle fighting, but this would be desert and city fighting. Cities in Iraq are veiy similar to our large cities. Baghdad is really no dif ferent than LA; there are roads, big buildings, and lots of people. “I suggest students get informed about what’s going on in the world,” Widerburg said. “The only thing that we know of Iraq is what the media wants us to see on TV. Whenever we see Iraq on TV we see Saddam with a sword in his hand or shooting a rifle. We never see what any of the citizens do.” ANDY PRICE Clackamas Print ALLEN WIDERBURG Contributed Left: Allen Widerburg, English instructor. Right: Widerburg 35 years ago. Widerburg shared his experiences in Vietnam, and compared them to the recent threat of war. Widerburg suggests that students get informed about what is going on in our world. r I I I I I I I 601 H igh S treet , O regon city I IN THE RIVERVIEW PROFESSIONAL CENTER I I 503-650-1 TAN <503-650-1826) I I THREE LEVELS OF EQUIPMENT TO CATER TO YOUR SXJN TYPE I S upervised playroom for your chiuxreh while too tan I enjoy the heat from the tropical sun in one of our themed rooms I I I BRlklG TN THIS COUPON FOR ONE FREE TAN I B ottom L ine T anning G rand O pening stem
