NEWS
by
E m il y R oberts
3
& R A C H ELLEPEiFFER)
NEWS EDITOR & STAFF WRITER
On Friday, Jan. 18, for the first time ever in Clackamas
Com m unity College history, a State of the College
address w as held at the Harmony cam pus w ith an
audience of around 30 people. A week later, on Friday,
Jan. 25, a second address was held at the Oregon City
campus w ith an audience of almost 200 people. The
State of the College address is an opportunity for our
college president to talk about any current projects,
what the college needs and generally update the public
on the happenings here at CCC.
Clare Hansen, the Associated Student Government
president, intrigued the audience with CCC’ s history
before giving a warm introduction to Tim Cook, our
college’ s president. He proudly took to the stage and
stood before the crowd.
Cook presented a year in review, revealing the fact
that the nursing program of CCC was recognized last
year for a 100 percent nursing license exam pass rate.
That makes CCC the only college, two year or four year
alike, to get this state recognition. 1
The Summer Scholars program, which debuted last
summer as a sort of tuition-free summer camp for high
school students, along with technical summer camps,
had 300 applicants last summer. He spoke about the
programs in place such as Guided Pathways and High
School Connections Advanced High School Credit,
which helped both students and potential students
succeed in college, with a focus on college readiness.
“ So we have this flipped, this idea that students need
to be college ready, instead of saying the college needs
to be student ready,” Cook said.
Last summer, the Clackamas Community College
Foundation held th e ir an n u al g o lf "tournam ent
fundraiser, known as ParTee on the Green, which ended
up raising $800,000. This money, Cook promised, went
directly to student scholarships.
He then moved to the bond projects, speaking about
the Dejardin building, which will increase the amount
of space and number of classes, as w ell as welcome
new technology.
“ The college has been in steady construction mode
since November, 2014, and last year we made it to the
halfway mark of our bond projects,” Cook said. The
Environmental Learning Center has been revamped
and rebuilt. In Septem ber, the college opened the
new Industrial Technology Center, w hich provides
more space for more classes. The Community Center
is scheduled to be revamped in the summer of 2021,
After the hour-long speech concluded, the audience
applauded and Cook left the stage. Everyone gathered
into sm all groups and discussed the speech, Cook
included.
T iffany Shirem an, the c h ief o f sta ff for North
Clackamas Schools, said, “ The focus on that seamless
transition from high school to community college is
Clackamas Print
exactly what we need for students; they shouldn’ t be
pinged around to various buildings.”
Another participant, W ilda Parks, a M ilwaukie
city councilor, com m ented, “ It also increased my
understanding of the need to really lobby our legislature
on the funding that’ s crucial for community colleges
in general.”
Photo by Rachelle.Peiffer
Clare Hansen smiles before she introduces the col
lege president, Tim Cook, to a room of 200 people
on Jan. 25.
Tim Cook, mid-speech, speaks proudly of the college and shares upcoming projects with an attentive
crowd at the CCC Harmony campus on Jan. 18.
theclackam asprint.com
Ja n u a ry 30, 2019