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