Two year trumps four year?
Advisers talk about the
benefits of community college
BY LILY SHAVER
W hen you think of going to college, students or so; 1 can go up to the
you picture old brick buildings and person and actually ask questions in
grassy lawns sprinkled with laughing class,” said Marvin.
Clackamas is also a good place for
students on blankets planning secret
parties that explode in campus dorm a fresh start.
“ It’ s a place of second chances for
rooms.
Universities are also envisioned as a lot of students w ho m ight not be
scary and big while sucking up all your accepted into a fo u r-year co lle ge ,”
sàid Gwenda Richards Oshiro, a CCC
m oney and time.
People don’t think of quaint little academic adviser.
community colleges first off. But tw o-
CCC can b en e fit m any d ifferen t
year colleges offer a stepping stone types of people, from m any different
for those who dream of education and w alks o f life.
“ There are people w ho are right
furthering their goals.
C lackam as C om m u n ity C ollege out of prison, folks w ho earned their
has m any great benefits that cannot GED and can’t afford to go to a four-
be found in a fo u r-ye ar college or year college, fo lk s w ho have ju st
u n iversity. CCC is less exp en sive, im m igrated from another country.
the class sizes are sm aller and the This is a place w here people have a
approach is much more personalized. chan ce to access ed u cation ,” said
Oshiro.
RB Green, CCC’ s Veterans Services
coordinator, said th a t com m u nity
co lle ge has a m ore p erso n alized
approach.
“ There’ s a lot more focus on student
success, and kind of tailoring services
to the individual student,” said Green.
“ [CCC] is a great place to get started,
get on your feet, start succeeding, do
well, and then gain th é confidence to
go to a m ore challenging academ ic
Lydia M arvin, a stud ent at CCC, environm ent.”
tra n sferred fro m P ortlan d S tate
Even college advisers agree that
University where she had to deal with com m unity colleges, especially CCC,
scien ce classes th a t w ere so large, are a good first choice.
“ W e, as a school, really w an t to
they had to m eet in an auditorium.
There w as n ever a chan ce for her take th e tim e to get to kn ow our
to talk w ith the professor o n e -o n - students and find out w hat it is that
one, and she w as taught m ostly by each student needs to be successful,”
said Ariane Rakich, an adm issions
teachers assistants.
“ T his year [at CCC], m y organic counselor at CCC.
c h e m istry c la ss is o n ly lik e 20
"There's a lot more
focus on student
success, and kind of
tailoring service to the
individual student."
4 Clackamas Print DECEMBER 2.2015 theclackamasorint.com
College president, former
CCC student, offers advice
BY DEBBIE FOX
Clackam as C om m unity College
President Joanne Truesdell gives
solid advice to students: “ Always
ask questions.” Truesdell learned
this lesson first hand as a young
student at CCC.
Truesdell chose CCC because
her em ployer right out o f high
school told her not to return to
work until she was registered for
college. He told her specifically
to go to Clackamas. She liked the
school because people treated her
well when she walked in. It would
have b een easy to w alk away if
people hadn’ t tried to help her.
Truesdell started her college
c a ree r a t CCC in 1980 and
finished in 1982. “ Finances were
a factor in the decision to attend
Clackamas Com m unity College,”
said Truesdell. She continued at
Portland State U niversity from
1983 through 1985. The fall term
of 1985, Truesdell was at PSU as an
instructor for English as a Second
Language.
Truesdell then went to Lewis and
Clark College seeking a m aster’ s
degree in Public Administration.
She pursued a m aster’ s degree
from the U niversity of Portland
in Business Administration from
1988 to 1991.
In 1993, Truesdell began her
doctorate d egree o f education
at the University o f Oregon, and
finished in 1997.