BY AMY KLARUP
COLLEGE COURSES BRING
ENRICHMENT TO LOW-INCOME
AND UNHOUSED STUDENTS
JULIE AND BILL FERRARI
MAKE LEARNING
ACCESSIBLE
PHOTO: AMY KLARUP
n a bright weekday morning, 12 students fill out a
downtown Eugene classroom as an excited buzz
of conversation fills the space, and University of
Oregon psychology professor Holly Arrow leads
the class in a discussion about facts, opinion and
confusion between the two.
It could be any small, college-level course — except for
the fact that it’s free, and there’s food afterward.
“We’re trying to make these classes accessible to as
many people as possible,” says Bill Ferrari, a teacher at
Marist Catholic High School who helps organize the free
series of classes called “Summer Seminar,” which seeks
to provide an academic experience for a low-income and
homeless audience.
The series consists of eight, one-hour lectures through-
out the month of August, each given by a UO professor and
hosted at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, with lunch provided
after. This year’s theme is “The Moral Obligation to Be
Intelligent.”
The seminar series began in 2014 at Opportunity Vil-
lage, and Ferrari recruited UO professors to teach classes.
“They’re very supportive,” Ferrari says of the partici-
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pating professors. “They’re thoroughly generous with their
time — we don’t pay them for this. And what I appreciate
most about them, beyond their willingness to do this, is that
they teach the class straight-up. They buy into the nature of
the program and they give a full academic-level class.”
This is the first year the seminar has taken place at St.
Mary’s, in order to encourage more attendance from down-
town residents. Marist donors provide funds for flyers and
lunch.
Ferrari says the series is inspired by a similar program at
the University of Notre Dame, except at Notre Dame partici-
pants get homework assignments and earn college credit for
attending class. Ferrari says he hopes to add that component
as the series grows.
High school students from Marist help out each year
with recruiting people to attend the seminar — Ferrari says
they hand out flyers and chat with people at FOOD for Lane
County’s Dining Room in order to spark enthusiasm for the
class.
This year, high school student Maya Dotson launched a
social media campaign and is attending every class while
helping out with recruitment.
Bill Ferrari’s wife Julie Ferrari, also a teacher at Marist,
says the experience enriches the lives of her students —
three Marist alumni who will attend college this fall want
to start a seminar series at Seattle University, Julie Ferrari
says.
“It’s so important for them to hear the stories and to
have some firsthand experience to challenge any precon-
ceived notions or judgments, which sometimes can happen
with our brothers and sisters who are on the street,” Julie
Ferrari adds.
Daniel Neall, who attended Arrow’s Aug. 4 class about
facts versus opinion, says he enjoyed the class discussion
and decided to participate after seeing a flyer. “I don’t think
a lot of people think very critically about things,” he re-
flects. “People seem to mostly believe what they want to.”
Neall says he plans to attend the next lecture.
The 2016 Summer Seminar continues Thursday, Aug.
11, with UO business professor Michael Russo, and two
more classes follow on Aug. 17 and 18. All classes run 11
am to noon, with lunch directly afterwards, at St. Mary’s
Catholic Church, 1062 Charnelton Street. Classes are free
and open to all.
NELSON’S JUNIPER HAIRSTREAK,
CALLOPHRYS GRYNEUS NELSONI
T
he mosquito fern that covered the
eastside Delta Ponds’ surfaces with
dramatic purple the past two winters
had nearly disappeared by late spring
of this year. The duckweed family
overtook the mosquito fern and turned the
ponds green, much to the gustatory delight of
the waterfowl. Suddenly, in July, the mosquito
fern has made a resurgence and may regain
dominance; observations to come. Even the
green is different. Instead of common
duckweed, the green is dominated by the tiny
water meal (Wolffia) of the flowering duckweed
family. Duckweed is small enough, the size of
an “o” in newsprint, while each Wolffia plant
barely exceeds the dot on an “i.”
Berry season is two weeks early. The tasty,
wild and weedy Armenian blackberry started
ripening even before the first of August. The
juiciest ones tend to be around ponds like the
eastside Delta Ponds, where dust from roads is
also minimal. As with the strawberries and
cherries, they will likely peak early. Gather and
enjoy.
In hot weather, gnats form small swarms in
the meadows by water. A typical gnat cloud is
about 2 feet through and a yard high. Gnats are
not fun to walk through but they don’t bite. I
remember how my old friend, the late Marge
Zane, showed how to herd a whole swarm. She
guided them here and there, slowly, with arms
spread in a wide embrace. We found that we
could pass a gnat cloud from one person to
another, the swarm was so coherent.
David Wagner is a botanist who works in Eugene. He
teaches moss classes, leads nature walks and makes na-
ture calendars. Contact him directly at fernzenmosses@
me.com.