Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 11, 2004)
6 • T he C lackamas P rint F ebruary 11, 2004 Gamer girl makes time for grades Nic Delzell T he C lackamas P rint photo* by NIC DELZELL C lackamas P rint Watch out now! Sophisticated, soft-spoken and stylish Clickamas student and grade/gangster Carmen Richard is busting a move with her education. When it comes to her learn ing, this schoolgirl doesn’t front: she has a 3.8 GPA and has main tained a 4.0 during spring and fall of 2003. Richard said her cumulative grade point average is rising steadily. “I think it’s about uncovering your learning style and finding out what works best for you,” she said. Richard currently represents Milwaukee, but has also lived far up in the north side; she attend ed and graduated Victoria Composite High School located in Edmonton—Alberta, Canada. Richard’s journey at Clackamas started in 2001 and she is look ing to cdnquer her AAOT by this spring. “I don’t think I had what it took to get into a university [before CC.C],” she said. “My grades used to suck.” In her extra time, she takes pleasure in a myriad of different dude,” she said. forms of entertainment, includ Although Richard has no ing reading, music and video favorite gangster rapper, she’s a games. zealous fan of hip-hop artist Bus “I play geeky video games Driver. When it comes to color and read nerdy books,” Richard affiliation, she goes with red. And said. “I listen to industrial, tech with the right timing, one can nological,' dark, yet up-beat catch her chewing on het favorite music” food, sushi. Richard’s ties with The Like every other student, she Clackamas Print has experienced ______ include ____ her _____ rela- the difficulty of “ I think it ’ s tionship with her finding good park about uncover favorite staff mem ing on campus. ber, A&E Editor Richard, however, ing your learn Isaiah Creel and has a sense of ing style and her brief stint serv humor about it. ing as a production finding out “The pain-in- assistant. the-[rear] parking what works for “The Clackamas is also my favorite you.” Print was chaotic, part of but it was fun at Clackamas,” joked Carmen Richard times,” Richard Richard. CCC Student said. “Other times Next fall, I felt kind of lost.” Richard plans to In addition to transfer to school, Richard enjoys cartoons. Portland State University (PSU) She particularly likes “Aqua Teen to follow up her spell at Hunger Force”—but only the Clackamas with, a degree in busi early episodes. She’s also down ness. When finished at PSU, she with the “Teenage Mutant Ninja wants to focus on design school. Turtles.” “I want a master’s degree in “My favorite Ninja Turtle is design if I can find someone Michelangelo, ‘cause he’s a party who offers it,1” Richard said. Campus cat club caters to cuddly critters Karen Hill F eature E ditor It all started with a cat named Bobby. Bobby was one of the hun dreds of stray cats found wander ing on the college campus search ing for food and a home. Luckily for Bobby, the CCC Campus Cat Colony Club came to his rescue, providing him with a home— some cats aren’t so lucky. Diane Dennis, Oregon City school district teacher, began noticing an increasing number of feral (wild) cats on campus, while taking math courses at Clackamas Community College. Other faculty began noticing the problem as well. Unbeknownst to each other, the faculty, as well as Dennis, began collecting the cats, taking them to vets to get fixed, finding homes for them when possible and returning the rest back to campus. . “We discovered that when peo ple try to help the problem [of stray cats], by removing them, the cats are only replaced by a new batch,” said Dennis. Dennis discovered that fixing the cats helped to keep the num Shortly after, under the guid ber to a minimum, but the best ance of Nelson and Dennis the way to reduce the number of cats “CCC Campus Cat Colony Club” on campus, was to trap a few of was formed. them and feed them regularly on Currently, approximately a campus. dozen active club members attend “They establish a sort of per to the population of stray cats on manent space so they tend to campus, helping when needed. drive off other cats, which helps to keep the population from growing,” said Dennis. Dennis, as well as faculty mem bers Gary Nelson and Karin Redston, decided it was time to take a more organized approach in addressing their'rising concern of stray cats on campus. “We respond to Nelson pût a proposal to the col the needs on campus lege, requesting permission to start a as they come,” said Dennis. “We cat colony on campus, in which they try to assist other cats in the com can set up feeding station for the cats munity.” and trap and fix cats. The club members soon found, The college granted Nelson’s they weren’t the only ones interest request. ed in helping stray cats. An employ “The college agreed this was a ee at the Clackamas County Senior good thing to do,” said Nelson. Services center, located on Beavercreek Rd., had been catching and fixing cats for years. When the club presented the idea to set up a feeding station at the center, she was more than happy to oblige. “She was delighted to help out,” said Dennis, since this was a prob lem she had been trying to fix on her own. The senior center became one of the two feeding stations set up for the cats. The second feeding station is located on campus near the cafeteria. It serves as a place the cats can come and find food on a regular basis. The construction workers at the Gateway building construction site also had a watchful eye out when it came to homeless kittens. “They found bottle-feeder size kittens hidden under a tarp at the site. The mother cat had apparent ly got frightened and ran off when die tarp was uncovered. After sev eral trips back to the site in attempt to catch the mother, Dennis came across the cat, only to find that the she was tame. The club started approximate ly 10 years ago, and continues to pro-actively attempt to decrease the number of cats on campus. Through rummage and craft sales, as well as a variety of other fundraisers, the club raises money to pay for the costs of fixing and treating cats. “The average price to take a stray cat to the vet for tests and to get fixed is $100,” said Dennis, “and the adoption fee is only $45.” Dennis invites anyone interest ed to join the club. “We’re looking for people who want to foster a cat while it’s waiting for a home,” said Dennis. The club also welcomes anyone interested in making crafts to sell as a fundraiser, and any donation of much needed towels and blankets are always appreciated. For more information about the CCC Campus Cat Colony Club, please contact Diane Dennis at (503) 632-5868. Spanish instructor proves it's never too late to pursue passion Cyndee Mady Co E ditor - in -C hief Though Maestro David Miller, Spanish department chair, has been a teacher at Clackamas for the past 10 years, his love for foreign language came later in life. Miller learned Spanish in. his thir ties and it wasn’t until he was work ing as an employment- training coun selor for migrant workers that he realized his passion. “One day I was short of sleep because we had a colicky baby and dragged myself off to work with double-espressos (and I think I was also sick). I had to explain some thing about Spanish itself to some body,” said Miller; “I just noticed that despite [being] sick and sleep- deprived, as soon as I started talking about the language, I was able to for get about how bad I felt. So I thought, Wow, that would be a pret ty good thing to make a living at, if it’s something I can do even when I feel bad.’ It was kind of a moment of clarity.” Before settling on a major, Miller attended seven four-year colleges that I’m interested in rather than spanning Oregon, Washington and because I think that it’s good for Montana. humanity or prestigious or whatever “I switched my major five times other dumb reason I had for picking as a freshman—probably 10 times in a profession,” said Miller. my life,” he said. / Due to Miller’s own struggle to Miller was working on his mas find his career path, he advises stu ter’s degree in pub dents against trying to lic administration at find themselves in “It took me Lewis and Clark college. when he suddenly “Let the world until I was 40 to changed course and knock you around a figure out the transferred to little and then go to Portland State simple principle college, unless you University (PSU) to that I should do ' know exactly what pursue a master’s in you want to do,” something that Spanish and Miller recommended. German. “[Instead of] hanging I’m good at.” Though he out sort of half-heart David Millar already had a BA in edly in the cafeteria all Spanish Department history, he needed the time not being Chair to first get a BA in very interested in any foreign language thing—quick, go get a before he could pursue his objective job, do anything, pump gas, wait of attending graduate school for tables—until you have a clearer idea Spanish and German. Three years wh^t you want to do. I wasted so later he achieved his goal much time hanging out in college, “It took me until I was 40 to figure spending my mother’s money.” out the simple principle that I should Miller and his wife of 16 years, do something that Fm good at and Sonja, have three children—Ben, 14, Nick, 12, and their adopted daughter Ali, 9. So does Miller impose his love of language on his family? “It just confuses family with pro fession,” he said. “[Although] some times I’m sad that they don’t speak a foreign language.” In the fall of 2005, Miller will step down as department chair in order to apply his efforts to teaching German and promoting the student exchange program, in addition to teaching first-year Spanish. ‘If you give me half a chance, I’ll bore you to death talking about lan guage,” he said, ‘i just love lan guage” Miller’s students, on the other hand find him anything but boring. “I like die class because I like the way he explains assignments and then relates them to what we are learning,” said first-year Spanish stu dent Crystal McNamara. “He takes the time to go over whatever ques tions we have. He’s very energetic, so he keeps our attention.” Spanish student Josh Hitch appreciates Miller’s dedication to stu dents. “I enjoy the class a whole lot. Mt Miller actually makes it easier; he makes us fed more comfortable,” he said. “He lets you go back and fix all of your mistakes on tests and then re-grades them. He makes the atmosphere a lot mote enjoyable, which makes it easier to learn. “I think he’s a great teacher, one of the best I’ve had so far,” Hitch added. MILLER
