Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2003)
FEATURE 6 • The Clackamas Print • May 7, 2003 State lines are no border for love Student's wedding moves up as Marine fiancé deploys to Japan Cyndee Mady The Clackamas Priat DOVE ANDES Contributed Dove Andes and Bill Mitchell enjoy a Hawaii beach during her visit to the town where he is stationed. Not unlike many other CCC stu dents, Dove Andes strives to main tain a balance of school, work and home life. What distinguishes this 28 year- old education major from her fellow students is her impending wedding nuptials. People get married all the time, so what makes Andes so different? The exceptionalism stems from the fact that Andes and her 26-year-old fiancé, Bill Mitchell, have never lived in the same state. They met last August at a club in the village of Carlsbad while Andes was vacationing in California. Mitchell is a Marine, and at the time he was stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, Calif. Andes and Mitchell spent four days of her five-day visit to California embedded in a whirlwind romance. But this was no fly-by- night affair. They maintained sub sequent contact everyday via telecommunications and air travel. In fact, in the eight short months this duo has been a couple, Mitchel! has flown to Oregon three times, sequestered Andes to his home town of Egan, Minn, so they could spend New Year’s Eve together and Student proves that life's hurdles are never too high to overcome Kimberly Steele anywhere from two to eight times day and on weekends, one convei sation can last more than fiv hours.” Just three months after they me Mitchell knew he wanted to spen the rest of his life with Andes. H also knew their relationship woul be a challenge. “The drawbacks are that yoi don’t get to spend that quality per sonal time together, but the advan tages are that you are forced t< work on your relationship and yoi never take things for granted,” saifl Mitchell. I Andes moved to Oregon fronB her hometown of St. Louis, Mo. twB years ago and is currently certified by the state to teach kindergarten al The Learning Tree, a private facilfl ty in Tualatin. She is workinfl towards her teaching certificati with the ambition of becoming ai elementary school teacher in thi public school system. Andes main tains a high GPA and is a membe of the honor society. “This is my second year a Clackamas,” said Andes. “I’m in i grant program this year for educa tion technology.”_ Andes will continue to live witl her parents and attend CCC unti I her husband returns, at which timi I they will make Hawaii their home. I Eastern Oregon university Division of Distance Educate Opportunities Right Where You Are Anywhere in the U.S; and Canada U Over 20 Years Experience Delivering Distance Education Degrees Q “Student First" Emphasis Q Student-Driven Degree Hanning Q Over 400 High-Ouairty Courses Q Student Advising Centers throughout Oregon Cl On-line Advising available throughoot the U.S Q Flexible Course Options Q Fairly Priced Q No Out-of-State Tuition Guest Writer Eighteen years ago Jennifer Voelker attended junior high school. She played volleyball and went out with her friends. Then two freak accidents changed her life dramatically. The first mishap occurred while Voelker was at school. Several of her classmates were arguing and the scuffle led to a math book being hurled across the room. The book hit Voelker in the side of the head. A long recovery time followed, but she was able to regain her health. Eventually, she found herself on her school volleyball team, which led to her second misfortune. On the court one day, one of the girls served a ball that hit Voelker in the back of the head. The only thing she can remember before waking up in the hospital is hearing a loud bang. The blows to the head that Voelker sustained from the two accidents caused injuries to her inner ear, leading doctors to remove her stapes, a bone in the ear that helps transmit sound. These and other injuries that are less easi ly defined resulted in a vestibular disorder that turned her world upside down. When Voelker’s inner ear was injured it caused her to lose many things that most of us take for granted. On a good day Voelker constantly feels like she is falling, like the world around her is spin ning, but on such a day she is able to do school work and concentrate for varying lengths of time on the day-to-day activities that most peo ple do not give a second thought to. On a bad day it is excruciating and nearly impossible for her to get out of bed at all. Movement, sound, arranged for Andes to visit him in Hawaii, which recently became his home base. Andes and Mitchell originally set their wedding date for July 12; however, Mitchell just received orders of deployment to Japan beginning June 1. “The way the deployment rota tion works, I could be over there a year, but they want you to believe it’s only going to be six or seven months,” said Mitchell. Needless to say, the wedding has been moved to May 24. Andes will fly to Hawaii prior to the wedding and accompany her fiancé back to Oregon for the ceremony. After spending a few days with her fami ly, whom she now resides with in Wilsonville, they will return to Hawaii for their honeymoon where they can steal a few romantic moments before Mitchell’s ship sets sail and the two sweethearts are separated yet again. Having known each other only a short while, it may seem as though they are rushing things, but the cou ple couldn’t disagree more. “We’re old enough to know what we want. Our love is strong, because it’s not just based on the physicality of the relationship,” said Andes. “We’re in constant communication, sometimes talking For details ph sue Dobson, Ad tland phone: 503-71 5-485» e-mail: sdobson^eou.edu hy are you holding youri h ead down ? You co n hold me, fid me, ' i " .'V ... CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Jennifer Voelker (center), Clackamas student, suffers from an inner ear injury that causes movement, sound, light, patterns and smells to make her dizzy. light, patterns and even smells make her dizzy and nauseated. Nearly all of the stimuli that the rest of the world takes in Without conscious acknowledgement makes Voelker ill. Despite all these things, Voelker is living proof that nothing can stop a dedicated person from achieving ones goals. She graduated from high school with a 4.0 grade point average and is currently taking classes at Clackamas Community College, impressing her teachers at every tum. Voelker, who has had 13 surger ies to date, moved here from Colorado soon after her accidents happened. She is currently receiv ing care from Dr. F. Owen Black and is making plans for future oper ations to restore hearing to her left ear. NASA is doing new research that gives her, and others with sim ilar problems, hope for future recovery. Voelker is quick to give credit where she believes it is due. “My family has stuck by me, and all the people whose names no one will ever know,” said Voelker. “It’s not like, ‘Well, we’ll help Jennifer for a month or two and then she’ll get on her feet.’ It’s faithful friendship and assistance to somebody, and there’s lots of peo ple like that in my life and I think that’s kind of a neater story than just about me.” The message Voelker, spreads • with her life, her personality and her words is a simple one: “I don’t have a choice in my situation but all those other people, they certain ly have a choice. They don’t have to help me, and they do.” ut the best thing to do is RE ADmel—■ - - -... . ................ .............. ...........
