Portland Observer, March 21, 1984 Page 7
H ard work and perseverance are
tw o w ords th at are o fte n used in
dccnbing how and why a person is
successful. In many cases, it is the
case and in many it is not. However,
in the case o f L iz Stephenson, you
can take these two words literally.
A native o f O ran g e, Texas, our
role m odel fo r this week attended
Wallace High School.
She came to P o rtla n d ap
p ro x im a te ly seven and one h a lf
years ago an d . in this short tim e
span, has become one o f Portland's
successful business w om en . L iz
came with four children and very lit
tle m oney. H er fa m ily , the Scotts,
assisted her in getting a jo b w ith
th eir co m p an y . Coast J a n ito ria l,
where she w orked as a ja n ito r ia l
supervisor (a position that she earned
th ro u g h hard w o rk ). A lth o u g h
L iz was g ra te fu l fo r the o p p o r
tu n ity , her strong a m b itio n and
determination to succeed would not
allow her to "stay put” . She applied
fo r and landed a jo b w ith U n ite d
Airlines as the first woman "ra m p
service person” . In this p o s itio n ,
she w orked w ith baggage (loading
and u n lo a d in g ) and drove heavy
equipment. Liz was a part o f the big
“ la y o ff” at United and she went to
work as a longshoreman for a short
period o f tim e. In the early 1980's,
Community Profiles
W e 'v e m oved + W e 'v e changed
our nam e
by Linda Thomas
Formerly Sportsman's Hair Design Center
she submitted an application to the
G e n e ra l Service D iv is io n o f the
State o f Oregon and was hired as a
m a il c a rrie r. A g a in , L iz was not
satisfied w ith th a t p o s itio n . H e r
a m b itio n led her to ap p ly fo r
a n o th e r p o s itio n in the same
division as a laborer supervisor. As
usual, she was successful and was
given the p o s itio n based on her
qualifications. Later, the position as
m anager o f the P o rtla n d State
M o to r Pool became av ailab le, she
was m ade te m p o ra ry m anager
and was later h ired p e rm a n e n tly .
This is a very challenging position
and one in which L iz meets with all
the enthusiasm, zest and competen
cy she has in other jobs. She is one
o f the few Black women to hold key
positions in a state agency and also
move from a low to high position in
a short period o f time. Liz attributes
this to " m o v in g fast and hard
w ork” .
L iz enjoys g o lf, m usic, sewing
and civic activities. She is a member
o f the New Hope Missionary Baptist
Church where she is a choir member
and chairm an o f the banquet com
mittee for the pastor's anniversary.
W hen asked fo r the key to her
success, she says, " M y success
sym bolizes w hat you can do w ith
On»W ° * L° ' ,e
B e a u « Salon
6720 N.E. Union
283-4123
Coma in and meat, Lonnie, Carolyn and Janice.
LIZ STEPHENSON
hard work and endurance. I believe
th at a person should get an
e d u ca tio n and then add d e te r
m in a tio n , a p ositive a ttitu d e ,
p atien ce, sincerely and fa ith in
yourself and in your own abilities.”
A very a ttra c tiv e and d yn am ic
person, she is som eone anyone
should be proud to model a career
after.
Returning student finds career with youths
C aro l Higgins wasn't happy with
w hat she was as a salesperson. So
she’ s ta k in g a year o f f to do
something about it.
Last September, Higgins enrolled
in the Portland Comm unity College
program for Special Education In
s tru c tio n al A ssistant, but th at ac
tion wasn't done hastily.
" M y ch ild ren are 18, 22 and 24
and it was time for me to change my
l i f e , " H iggins explain ed . " T h r e e
years ago. I ’ d done some career
counseling at P C C , so 1 went back
to take the tests again. A n d , once
again, they showed this interest.”
found some schools have education
departm ents where she could also
w o rk
w ith
a d u lts ,
sheltered
workshops use tra in e d assistants,
re sid en tia l centers need help and
camps hire people to w ork w ith
handicapped children.
, H iggins finds it interesting that
her choice puts her back in the
ed u c a tio n a l fie ld . She previou sly
was a preschool teacher; even had
her ow n school in U ta h . ” 1 w ent
fro m teaching to te a c h in g ,” she
jokes.
And Higgins said she is enjoying
the college experience tre m e n
Special education studente at Lake Oswego High School learn
money m anagem ent from Portland C om m unity College student
Carol Higgins. From left are Jodi M cCloud. Don Lavato. Higgins.
Brent Bruinsma. Treasa W itte (a high school intern) and Jeff Nelson.
H ig gin s set o u t to d eterm in e if
there really was any need for teacher
assistants to work with handicapped
ch ild ren and discovered m ore o p
portunities than she imagined.
” 1 talked to a number o f teachers
in both private and public schools to
d eterm in e i f p ositions re a lly
existed.” she explained. " I want a
real career and I w ant to be sure
there will be job opportunities.”
T h ro u g h th at search, H ig gin s
d o u s ly , especially the p rac tic u m .
F a ll term she was assigned to a
hospital in Beaverton, and she's just
completed w inter term in the Lake
Oswego High School resource cen
ter.
N e xt term , H ig gin s w ill take an
assignment at a m id dle school, so
she’ ll have a number o f levels o f ex
perience when she sets out to find a
job this summer.
" I may continue by going on to a
fo u r year p ro g r a m " H ig g in s e x
p la in e d , " b u t th at w ill p ro b a b ly
take three more years even though I
attended Santa Rosa Junior College
fo r tw o years in the m id 3 0 ’ s. M y
m ain o b je c tiv e w ill be to w ork a
year b e fo re I co n sider fu rth e r
education.”
Higgins is the first student to in
tern at Lake Oswego H igh School.
" M y P C C instructor, Sue Voorhies,
had to w o rk out an ed u ca tio n a l
p ro gram w ith D ian e Dennis to be
sure the practicum would meet the
college re q u ire m e n ts ,” H iggins
said.
For Higgins, that meant working
daily w ith students in the resource
center and picking one student to
apply knowledge she was learning
about behavior management.
" I t ’s a real challenge to see some
ac c o m p lis h m e n ts ,” H ig g in s e x
p la in e d . “ I guess I ’ m most en
couraged when a concept is learned,
because i t ’ s rewarding fo r both (he
student and the teacher."
Higgins worked w ith students at
L ake O sw ego in b oth m oney
m anagem ent and fin a n c ia l rights.
" W e are trying to teach them things
to help them in everyday life .” she
explained.
Just the concept o f m akin g
change is complicated for some, ac
cording to Higgins, but she said the
students are at all d iffe re n t levels.
Basic m ath is im p o rta n t, but so is
the ab ility to have a bank account,
w rite checks and lea rn about
budgeting.
V o o rh ie s e x p la in ed th at the
college p ro g ram re a lly has three
purposes. The first is to train college
students to work in an academic or
v o ca tio n al en v iro n m e n t. " W e ex
pect students to spend 12-13 hours a
week in th e ir fie ld e x p e rie n c e ,”
Voorhies said.
T h e o th e r tw o purposes o f the
p ro g ra m , acco rd ing to V o o rh ies ,
are to prepare a student to go on to
a four-year teaching degree and to
provide explo ratory opportunities
for people considering this career.
H ig gin s
praises
the
PCC
program. "Teachers at P C C have a
te r rific p ro g ram in w o rk in g w ith
students. . and each o t h e r ,” she
said. "They've given me the picture
o f the wide range o f posibilities in
special education and I ’ m really en
thusiastic about my new career."
Hock Shop'
Buy. Sell or Trade
Anything of value
5600 N.E. Union
The idea for jet propulsion apparently dates back at
least to the first century A .D . when Hero of Alexan
dria, Egypt, is said to have built an engine called an
aeoliptle.
The most massive single edition of a newspaper
was the Sunday, Oct. 17, 1965, New York Times. It
had 15 sections, a total of 946 pages and weighed 7 Vt
pounds.
e
The first talking cartoon movie was W alt Disney's
''Steamboat Willie,” released in September 1928.
We do oot do busineaa w ith South Africa
American State
Bank AN INDEPENDENT BANK
Head Office
2737 N. E. Union
Portland, Oregon 97212
287 5330
Breast self-exams prove vital
W om en who prsctice breast self-
exsm in atio n — even at intervals o f
less than the recommended once a
month— fared better than those who
had never practiced BSE in a sever. •
year study o f 1004 breast cancer
patients.
Breast cancers were discovered
earlier in the women who practiced
BSE and they lived longer.
The report is based on analysis of
the records o f IS o f the 16 general
hospitals in the state o f V e rm o n t,
which maintains a state-wide breast
cancer registry. Non-invasive forms
o f cancer were excluded fro m the
stu d y, w hich covered a p erio d o f
July 1973 to December 1982 and is
still in progress.
T h e researchers, D rs. R oger S.
F o ster, Jr. ( M D ) and M ic h a e l C .
Costanza (P h D ), found that 23 per
cent o f the women in the study prac
ticed breast self-examination at least
once a month; 28 per cent less than
once a m o n th ; and 49 per cent,
never.
W om en w ho exam ined th e m
selves regularly were "significantly
m ore lik e ly to detect th eir breast
cancers themselves," the researchers
concluded. N in e ty per cent o f the
w om en w ho d id BSE m o n th ly
discovered their own cancers, as did
82 per cent o f those who examined
themselves less o ften . But only 34
per cent o f the w om en who never
practiced BSE discovered the
disease themselves. The time elap
sed between firs t reco gn itio n o f a
sym ptom and fo rm a l diagnosis o f
breast cancer was "somewhate shor
te r” fo r women w ho fo llo w ed the
se lf-e xa m in a tio n p ractice, and in
every age g ro up the disease was
g en era lly discovered in an e a rlie r
stage.
In their ex am in atio n o f survival
d ata the researchers m atched all
women who practiced BSE, regar
dless o f frequency, against all who
d id n o t. T h e y fo u n d th at deaths
from breast cancer occured in 14 per
cent o f the patients w ho had prac
ticed BSE and in 26 per cent o f those
who had not.
The differences persisted even a f
ter allo w an c e was m ade fo r such
variab les as age, sta tis tic al bias,
fa m ily h is to ry o f breast cancer,
delay in treatm en t, and method o f
detection, they pointed out.
Carter fundraiser set
by Dist. 18 leaders
The D istrict 18 businessmen and
lobbyists' fundraiser for M argaret
C a rte r, D e m o cratic cand idate fo r
State Representative in Dist. 18. will
be M arch 27. 1984, 5:30-7:30 p.m .
at 1518 N .E . Killingsworth.
YOUR DOG NEEDS
VITAMINS, TOO.
A Sergeant
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