May 9, 2018
Page 5
Engineering Major Finds Success
Mt. Hood Community College
student Victor Ogelle has long
had a fascination with computers
and robotics, stemming back to
his secondary school days in La-
gos, Nigeria. However, attending
school in Nigeria also meant he
needed to “make hay while the
sun shined,” as he put it. Or, in
other words, he and his classmates
at Lagos’ Debiruss School used
their time wisely as regular roll-
ing blackouts could quickly shut
down their computers and robot-
ics engineering activities.
“I learned to be independent at
a fairly young age,” Ogelle said.
“There weren’t a lot of amenities
and you learned to really appreci-
ate what you had.”
The Portland-born Ogelle spent
his first year in the United States
and the next 15 years in Nigeria,
where most of his family lives to-
day. In 2016, he returned to Oregon
to attend college while living with
relatives. He enrolled in MHCC
and settled into college life while
adjusting to the new culture.
Ogelle reactivated the college’s
Victor Ogelle is from the Class of 2018 at Mt. Hood Community
College.
dormant Engineering club and
built up membership. He served
as a work-study student became a
tutor.
As Ogelle finishes his final
term at MHCC and begins look-
ing at four-year and graduate pro-
grams in electrical engineering
and economics, he has a plan in
mind. His goal: to help establish
stable, efficient energy sources in
his home-nation of Nigeria and in
countries like it.
“It’s part of why I came here to
the United States,” he says. “To
pursue a career in these fields and
to one day support my community
back in Nigeria and communities
struggling with similar issues.”
And he credits MHCC – with
its affordable tuition, variety of
degree programs, supportive cam-
pus community and diversity of
student activities – as better pre-
paring him to achieve that goal.
Learn more at mhcc.edu
Activists Form Mother’s Day Bail Out
The activist group Portland’s Resistance started a
crowd funding campaign Sunday to bail out moms
so they can reunite with their children on Mother’s
Day.
The group is hoping to raise $25,000 by Moth-
er’s Day, which is Sunday, to secure the release of at
least five black women from jail. By Tuesday, they
had raised almost $9,000.
“Our focus is on Black women and mothers
trapped in the unjust system of pay-to-play civil
liberties. Women should have the opportunity to be
free from jail and in the company of their families
on Mother’s Day, and every day,” a message from
Portland Resistance’s campaign website stated.
As the freed women appear for their future court
dates, their bail amounts would be released and plans
call for the monies to be returned to Portland’s Re-
sistance. The group has vowed to apply 100 percent
of the funds to their next bail out campaign sched-
uled for Father’s Day on June 17 and on June 19 for
Juneteenth, the festival held by African Americans
to celebrate emancipation from slavery.
More information can be found at fundly.com/
black-mama-bail-out-portland-or-area.