Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011
The Clackamas Print 3
et coordinator
eployed to
fghanistan
By Pamela Hollis
The Clackamas Print
Sunday, Jan. 9, United States Marine
Captain Greg Myers boarded a plane
[for Hawaii. This is not a trip of
and fun. It is the first step in a
pent to the war stricken country of
pistan. Myers will spend a month in
preparing for his orders of mobili-
[and his actual set of duties. He will
prated from Clackamas Community
L his wife, two small boys, fam
friends for 13 months. Myer’s was
Ito Afghanistan where he will assist
1,000 international soldiers who have
received their orders.
p’s reserve status returned to active as
pber was called. “It is inevitable that
our number comes up you are going
pr number is going to come up. It is
natter of when,” stated Greg Seaver,
reterans’ service work study program
. For Myers, that time is now.
deployment has aroused many emo-
deployments usually do. In DeJardin
paver sat with emotion filling his
nth the fierce intensity of concern
kt ’ s and his family. Everyone reacts
nation differently. The intensity of
[varies and the ups and downs occur
ly.
ioyments are hard; there is a time and
for everything. For Myers’ wife and
k life will go on but normal, it is not.
[life as the civilian knows it and life
nilitary wife and mother. The fear of
[le loss is constantly looming,
ly will have feelings of fear, anger,
le, denial, resentment, confusion and
fear of loss. Anger affiliated with self-
,No one wants a life put on the line,
'ers has made a commitment to his
.He knows this as do his friends and
Denial creates the positive because
wants to think the negative that war
s.The possible resentment of leaving
nes behind. Seaver is concerned for
has a family. It is not like a young
■old boy that is only dealing with
i Greg has a wife and two young
at must be considered in every aspect
ie,” said Seaver.
[Veteran’s Education and Training
Center is a service of CCC dedicating
gratitude to providing hospitality, advo
cacy and the highest quality of service to
all veterans. The veterans center staff have
a common goal to support every veteran’s
transition from warrior to student to gradu
ate and finally to working professional.
At CCC, Myers has done a number of
things that have led the way to making
CCC a benchmark, not just for community
colleges but for all institutions of higher
education. Myers was project manager for
the Yellow Ribbon Career and Benefit Fair
on June 26,2010. This project had a strong
focus in the 41st Brigade’s return from
Iraq, which was a historical deployment,
the largest of its kind in the history of the
state: deploying 2,600 men and women of
the 6,000 Oregon National Guardsmen.
“The main focus of this project was
to reintegrate that group,” said Myers in
a December interview. “We hosted fam
ily reunions to help returning soldiers
with challenges that may arise. Not only
while they were gone, but also when the
return.”
Myers is a dedicated man. Napolean
Hodgers, a veteran advising specialist
at CCC, said, “Greg is very devoted to
his family and his faith. He has strong
personal beliefs; his family, his spiritual
beliefs and his duty to his country. You
wouldn’t be able to shake him on any of
those beliefs.”
Jan Godfrey will be filling the role
of Myers until his return. Godfrey has
held many titles at CCC and this role just
shows one more way she is dedicated to
the college.
Sharon Maggard, Veteran Education
Benefits Specialist, at CCC said, “I think
having (Godfrey) here is a great addition
to the team.”
It should now be the goal of CCC to
offer Myers what he has strived to provide
other veterans when he returns. In the
meantime support needs to be given; to
his family, himself and the program he ran
while he was in service to CCC.
His e-mail and United States Postal
address will be provided in a future edition
of the paper. Until then, stop by DeJardin
Pamela Hollis Clackamas Print
and give your messages to Seaver and they U.S. Marine Corps Captain Greg Myers is currently in the process of getting
will be forwarded to Myers.
ready to go to Afghanistan for a 13-month-long deployment. Myers, the vet
Hodgers added, “We will keep the place erans affairs coordinator at Clackamas Community College, has been very
running till he comes home safely.”
: If passes, learning
inment to improve
Continued from Page 1
pamas Community College student Andrew J. Senase
F) works on a project in the chemistry help lab on
Ry, Jan. 18. Campus science labs are a potential
[Pient for bond benefits.
involved in many campus activities in the past.
“We may have a piece
of technology available
that is more current, it may
not be recent ... but we
only have one of it and we
have 3,000 students who
are coming through here
in a year trying to access
one piece of equipment,”
said Truesdell. “The rest
of it is out of date and
... we’re at the point
where part of the out of
date component is ‘Can
you find replacement parts
when the machine breaks
down?’ We’re at the point
where no we can’t”
The
automotive
department may also be
lacking the proper equip
ment for modern training
opportunities according to
Truesdell.
“We
also,
in
Automotive, don’t have
the technology (and equip
ment) available in order to
actually train and teach our
students about alternative
fuels and car technology,”
said Truesdell. “We have
diagnostic equipment that
is outdated.”
Bond funds would
also be used to increase
or add additional class
room space with updated
equipment, particularly
lab space for the science,
automotive, manufactur
ing and microelectronics
courses. Currently the
preliminary plan, should
we receive the bond, does
not state that we will build
another building. Rather
CCC would expand upon
existing buildings unless
expansion is improbable
due to infrastructure needs
according to Truesdell.
The expansion is also to
ensure that classrooms are
provided in a safe and sta
ble learning environment
To help facilitate that sev
eral bui ldings will undergo
renovations for seismic
upgrades, replacing elec
trical systems, repairing
infrastructure and also
making sure that disabled
services such as the eleva
tors are in working order.
McLoughlin,
Barlow,
Pauling,
Clairmont,
Randall and the commu
nity center are the build
ings that these upgrades
are most needed for.
Another plan for the
bond funds is to acquire
property for Clackamas
Community College as
well as pay off a $20 mil
lion debt we owe the state
of Oregon. Currently the
college maintains cam
puses in Oregon City,
Wilsonville and the recent
addition of the Harmony
building. We also have a
small stake in the Oregon
Institute of Technology.
“We have an opportu
nity at ... the Harmony
campus where the Oregon
Institute of Technology is
located we own a portion
of that building (and) they
own another portion of
that building. We’ve been
able to secure state match
funds. They are planning
to leave that facility and
that portion would be up
for sale,” said Truesdell.
However despite all
this planning it is still up
to the voters of C lackamas
County to give CCC the
funds it needs for these
renovations and upgrades
as well as paying off the
certificate of participation
we took in 2008 to build
Harmony. When Harmony
was built, the college
received a state match of
$5 million to help fund
Harmony. As soon as that
support runs out the col
lege must pay for the debt
service of Harmony out of
its operating budget
“Certificates of partici
pation come out of operat
ing dollars. Our operating
dollars come from state
dollars, tuition dollars and
property tax dollars that
come into the institution
for general operations.
So the payment for those
would come out of the
operation of the college,”
said Truesdell, “In that
instance (of the bond fail
ing) ... we would have to
not fund something else in
order to pay for that”