B lack H istory M Page B6 s p e c ia l c o u e ra a e onth Mentors Give Minority Students February 9. 2005 Hope ’ The kids feel valued. That’s something you can't tell them - you have to show them. - Lewis and Clark College of Law mentor Roberta Phillips continued from Metro Kong, a first-year law student at Lewis and Clark University, is “someone you can talk to about life and school.” Kong had already enjoyed vol u n te e r o p p o r tu n itie s , so mentoring seemed like something she w anted to try. “T here’s a personal satisfac tion from helping som eone out,” Kong said. She noted sh e 's al ways had a good support system from family and friends. Portland OIC teachers said that it’s im portant that the m entors are people of color and com e from various racial and ethnic groups because a child learning with som eone from a sim ilar back ground might find it easier to re late to that person, an im portant com ponent when form ing a rela tio n sh ip . M entor Antonio J . Gonzalez is a second-year law student who got into the program because he wanted to set an example for the next child. “The Latino community has a photo by K atherine K ovacich /T he P ortland O bserver Sophomore Juanita McGull (left) with her mentor, first year law student Connie Kong. high dropout rate,” he said. “You can do it if you stick with it. We d on't have to be relegated to ser vice industry jobs.” Gonzalez also said mentoring allows a little break from graduate studies. “The nature o f grad school is isolating,” he said. "Y ou have to make an effort to keep tight ties with people. O therw ise it will quickly becom e an abstraction and not reality. I want to be out and working with people, to make sure 1 have an im pact on the lay p erso n .” Non-profit Portland OIC is part o f an international collective o f more than 66 com m unity-based c en ters to p ro v id e ed u catio n , training and jo b placem ent ser vices to educationally and eco nom ically disadvantaged youth and adults. For more information on the Port land OIC Mentoring Program, e- m ail K im F illa at k filla @po rtlandoic.org. Students Lose as College Textbook Prices On the Rise continued from Metro “One of my books that had a CD Rom was used twice and that was only forextracredit,’’Connolly said. "A lot of the bixtks are wrapped in cellophane, you can’t return it be cause it has to come with the whole package. They can’t sell it back unbundled.” OSPIRG's 2003 study asked fac ulty whether new editions were jus tified and 76 percent said only “half the time” or less. It was found that 65 percent of faculty included terms like “rarely” or "never.” This shows that the claim made by publishers that faculty are demanding new editions is false. American students are also pay ing more for their books. Surveys photo by K atherine K ovacich /T he P ortland O bserver New editions of textbooks sit on shelves at Portland Community College, Sylvania Campus. “Y ork and t h e C orps of D iscovery ” A L ecture and Slide Show on www.amazon.co.uk showed that books were twice as expensive in the United States than in the United K ingdom . O n the T h o m so n Learning’s website, all of the books found cost an average o f 72 percent more in the United States than in the United Kingdom, Africa and the Middle East. “It’s so ridiculous,” Connolly said. “It obviously shows that they don’t care about us receiving an affordable education. In addition to that, our bookstore actually tried one year to bring in books from oversees. Once the publisher found out we were buying books from other countries they stopped let ting us buy them online.” Connolly hopes that through the national campaign and media pres sure, publishers will stop putting out new editions every few years. “W hen things do change, you don't need to put out a whole new book if it’s just a paragraph. If it’s one chapter, add a packet. Students can then purchase an inexpensive supplement. With our economy, the prices are just skyrocketing with new editions,” she said. At Campusbookswap.com, a site set up by OSPIRG, students can buy, trade and sell their books online, similar to an E-bay format. “Many other schools work on their own book drives,” Connolly said. "W e're trying to spearhead a valu able used market on campus.” More information on the full re port can be viewed at www.make textbooksaffordable.org. Share Your Black History w ith Dr. D arrell M illner T u e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 2 , 2005 A Black Heritage Month Program at the Oregon Historical Society 1200 SW Park Avenue in downtown Portland 5:30 — 6:30 p.m. Galleries open for viewing 6:30 — 7:45 p.m. Lecture and Slide Show In this engaging presentation and slide show, Dr. Darrell Millner discusses the contributions of York to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and challenges long-standing ideas regarding the status of York as a slave after the expedition ended in 1806. Dr. Millner is Professor o f Black Studies at Portland State University’ and author of the book York of The Corps of Discovery. Free with Museum Admission. (No charge to ( )HS Members) For more information please call 503-222-1741 or go to www.ohs.org ""OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNPFD 11W 6 GUNDERSON ----------— The Nation’s leading manufacturer of rail cars and barges is looking for new team members to work as - Entry Level Helper - Fitters/Welders Gunderson offers a competitive compensation package rewarding performance and commitment. We also offer medical, dental, vision, life insurance, 401k, tuition reimbursement, sick pay, vacation pay and more. All selected applicants are required to successfully complete a pre employment physical and drug screen. If you are interested and meet these qualifications, apply in person between the hours of 7am and 3pm at: GUNDERSON IN C . Remembering the Vanport Flood: After a deadly flood on the Columbia River in 1948 when a dike broke, almost 20,000 residents of the now defunct city o f Vanport were displaced, with 15 people confirmed dead. Vanport, the largest public housing project ever built in the United States, was a revolutionary community, crossing color lines and ridding its area o f segregation. Mrs. Lizzie Phillips (above) and her children were one family left without a home. Photo memories from past wanted Black llistorx Month is here and the I’orl land ( Ibserveruonld liketoshareyoni personal photo memories front die past in our special cox ei age all month long. 4 1 5 0 NW Front Avenue, Portland, OR 0 71 10 Please slop h\ our o il ices al 4747 \ I M arlin I til her King lr B l\ d. or entail images fax (503)972-5987 Call our Job Hotline for updated information (503)972-5901 An EOE Employer tone\xs(n port land ohser\ er.com w ill, information about the photo along with vow name anil telephone number. Photos w ill he relumed.