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The teacher files
EDITORIAL
Sociology instructor keeps it real
Co Editor-In-Chief
Andrew Koczian
chiefed@ciadcamas.edu
BY KATIE ARCHER
Co Editor-In-Chief
Megan McCoy
It’s about second chances. Not only his, but the second
chances of the students he teaches. Sociology instructor
Erich Pfeifer has been at Clackamas Community College
about eight years now. Pfeifer also teaches a pre-fall
college success class for incoming athletes, before fall
term starts.
The Clackamas Print: How did you get to CCC?
Erich Pfeifer: Let’s see. I have been in the Army. I worked
at a diversionary program for kids who have been arrested
for different things, so I was a lead counselor there for
a number of years. I worked on a program, in Portland,
trying to help young kids make a positive connection with
education. I went to PCC [Portland Community College]
and I felt like they didn’t respect the students that they
were working with, at least the people that I was around.
I did a consulting job out here. I met people at Clackamas
and I found th at there were some good people out here,
so th a t’s what brought me to Clackamas.
I grew up in southern California and I didn’t like school,
didn’t have a good relationship w ith school growing
up. So I had to turn things around for myself and figure
out how to be a good student. Having gone through all
that, I had some good experiences as a student at the
community college, so I like the community college and
what it makes available to people. I decided to come back
to the community college because I wanted to try to help
other people who are trying to do what I was trying to do,
when I was trying to get an education.
TCP: W hat life experiences do you use to teach your
classes?
Pfeifer: Everything I’ve been through, my whole life
comes into how I teach. Some of the most im portant life
experiences are that I didn’t grow up in the easiest way,
so I’ve been a lot of things as a person myself, so I have
a lot of respect of anybody who’s struggling with things
in their life and trying to turn their life around with an
education. The most im portant experience I’ve ever had
in my life that prepared me was working in Portland at
a place called Albina Head Start, where I worked for five
years. In that period of time, I was pretty much the only
white person everywhere I went. In my job, I learned the
most important lessons in my life about how to treat other
people, see other people, how to get past the stereotypes
we have in our society and see who people really are on
the inside and reach across the things that divide us to
see that we’re all the same.
chiefed@cladcamas.edu
News Editor
Saige Keikkala
newsed@ciacicamas.edu
Arts & Culture
Matthew Rowning
aced@clacicamas.edu
Associate Arts & Culture
Blake Swan
Sports Editor
Katie Archer
sportsed@clackamas.edu
Copy Editor
Shaylyn Struna
copyed@clackamas.edu
Photo Editor
Austin Boltz
photoed@clackamas.edu
W eb Editor
Read more of this interview at TheClackamasPrint.com.
Chelsea Pagan
webeditor@clackamas.edu
This interview has been edited for clarity and space.
TCP: W hat do you hope to accomplish w hen you teach
your students?
Pfeifer: I want to help people succeed in college so that
they can earn a degree and be able to use that degree in the
real world to make their lives better. I hope to encourage
people to think for themselves and try to dismantle some
of the misunderstanding that we have in our society that
result in people leading lives th at are not authentic and
real to who they want to be and what they want to do. I
want to help people question things, figure out answers
for themselves, ask questions about the society and how
we share things with each other, but ultimately I want
to help people learn how to be successful in college so
that they can get a degree, in a credential society, that
requires a degree to get access to a certain standard of
living and quality of life. I want them to not only learn
to succeed in college but learn how to use th at degree in
the real world to make their life better.
Ad Manager
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admgr@clackamas.edu
Design Editor
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The Clackamas Print aims to
report the news in an honest,
unbiased and professional manner.
Content published in The Print is not
screened or subject to censorship.
Email comments, concerns or tips to:
chiefed@clackamas.edu
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ON THE COVER: Former PSU cross country runner, Jose Macias, now runs for CCC.
Photo by Katie Archer. Cover design by Brandon Chorum.
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