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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2007)
he _ First copy FREE, additional copies ltf Clackamas Print independent, student-run newspaper since 1966 Clackamas Community College, Oregon City, OR Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007 Volume 40, Issue 13 Aessages of international peace Clackamas gets a sneakpeek of the soon-to-be histori cal student ambas sador presentations Photos by Megan Koler Clackamas Print egan Holer ws Editor Eighteen different countries, fading Kazakhstan, Iraq, Moldova, sia, Kuwait and Palestine, were Esented by student ambassadors he Gregory Forum yesterday to mote diversity in education. All the students participate in a profit, educational organiza- i called “Student Visions” that uvolved in many different pro- os, such as mentoring, tutoring ISAT/ACT preparation. The program we are going to be ising on a lot today is the United ions of Young Ambassadors,” IChristina Pham, one of the orga- rs of the event. “We are actually g to be presenting some of the cs we are speaking of today to the ted Nations General Assembly (month in New York.” Hie presentation before the U.N. (month will be the first of its kind IN. history. Before the two presentations yes- ly, each representative prepared splay with little pictures and cts representing their country, j with a short speech concem- iieir country and its place in the world. A s s e 1 Zholdybayeva, a student ambas- sador from Kazakhstan, stood next to pictures of her country and a model of a traditional Kazakhstani yurt, and spoke briefly about her experiences in Student Visions. “Look at us; we are all from different coun tries and differ ent languages, but now, here we are speaking English,” said Zholdybayeva. “The most impor tant part for us is to learn to live in peace.” Hussain Qasem, a Kuwaiti stu dent ambassador, was one of die students who rejoiced in the opportu nity to inform his international peers about Kuwait and misconceptions regarding it. “We hate Saddam Hussein, and we have many Americans in Kuwait,” said Qasem. Most of the students felt the same as Qasem, and they see this whole experience with Student Visions as an opportunity to inform Americans and die world about the side of their country that isn’t represented as much in the media. Anyone interested in Student Visions or learning about the visit to the U.N can find out more at www. studentvisions.org. ABOVE: Student ambassadors present Clackamas students with miniature presentations about their country. BELOW: Zholdybayeva tells an onlooker about her native country of Kazakhstan and about her time with Student Visions. The presentations by die various U.N. of Young Ambassadors members were designed to be informative and advocate peace. Hamza Al-Shaishani, die representative from Jordan, discussed die tribal wars in his country, and how these rival factions were ignorant of each other’s cultures. His presented solution was diversification education in a child’s early school career, as well as gov ernment support for extra-cur ricular activities to advocate and further the blending of cultures. Angela Zuki, the Lebanese representative, discussed die recent military actions from 2006 in winch Israel attacked Lebanon in response to Hezbollah aggression in Northern Israel. She touched on the loss of innocent life in Lebanon, and possible solu tions. Zula also emphasized the frustration, social and political confusion that war breeds. The two Palestinian natives, Samer Anabtawi, from the Northern Bank, and Rami Ziara, from the Gaza Strip, dis cussed Palestine’s conflict with Israel. Anabtawi’s presenta tion encompassed die politi cal atmosphere of the two sides, the social impact that it has both in his life and his peers’, and the steps people involved with die war are tak ing towards peace. Anabtawi is part of peacefid groups; their purpose is to integrate Jewish and Palestinian youth through talking and shared travels. His presentation ended with a summarization of the message that the whole group seemed to push: “Partners in Pain; Partners in Peace.” - Compiled by Matt Olson The Clackamas Print ood news, bad news for Clackamas’ accreditation egaq Koler vs Editor Clackamas’ accreditation been reaffirmed; however, college is hardly out of the ids, -ast fall, the NWCCU Jthwest Commission on leges and Universities) vis- IClackamas for a week, to ide whether it would remain ^credited institution. ^hile Clackamas received tnendations regarding its lection to the community the beauty of the campus, WC'CU made three recom- dations. According to Baldwin van der Bijl, vice president of instructional services, the first recommendation from the NWCCU was for administra tors to develop a standardized way of assessing what a student should know after receiving a Transfer Degree. The assessment problem is an issue at many other colleges and universities, and something Clackamas has been working on for about a year. “Number two has to do with our planning procedures, in a broad sense, and evalua tion,” said van der Bijl. “We go through a process of ‘here’s what we want to do in the next “They are asking us to upgrade, mod ernize and reorganize our financial soft ware. ” Baldwin van der Bijl Vice President of Instructional Services year or two or three,’ and [the NWCCU] wanted more clari fication on that process and a better accounting of what hap pened.” “We go through a process with decision packages, which is where people will request money to buy something, and we go through a process that works very well, on which ones are going to get the money and which ones aren’t,” said van der Bijl. The recommendation the NWCCU made was simply to follow up on those endeavors and evaluate and record whether or not the changes made accom plished the goal. “The third one has to do with finance,” said van der Bijl. “They are asking us to upgrade, modernize and reorganize our financial software.” Van der Bijl again wished to acknowledge that Clackamas has been aware of its need for an upgrade for quite some time. “We also need to improve what tools and controls we have,” said van der Bijl. “Tools are what we use to get our work done, and then controls are the checks and balances and proce dures that we use.” Clackamas has until spring of 2008 to make significant improvements in the aforemen tioned three areas. The NWCCU will visit the college that same spring for what they are calling a “focused interim report.”
