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Saturday, May 22, 2021
East Oregonian
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Choices: ‘I’m a little nervous, I’m not going to lie’
thing I’m, like, worried about
right now.”
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Latino, according to the latest
figures from the Oregon
Department of Education.
Susie Ellis, a secretary in the
school’s counseling center,
said many of them would be
the first in their families to go
to college.
“There’s a lot of that, ‘Oh,
I can’t go to college,’” Ellis
said, “Well, no, no you can.”
In a report from Febru-
ary, Challenge Success — a
school reform nonprofit, in
collaboration with the Stan-
ford Graduate School of
Education and NBC News —
found increased stress among
high school students last fall.
The study’s findings
were based on responses
from more than 75,000 high
school students between fall
2018 and fall 2020. During
fall 2020, the survey was
administered to more than
10,000 students with addi-
tional questions related to the
pandemic.
Of the students surveyed
last fall, 59% said their
wor r ies about college
increased. For Black and
Hispanic/Latino students,
63% reported an increase
in school-related stress;
higher than the 55% of white
students reporting greater
stress.
Colleges pivot to online
recruitment
On the other side of the
admissions process, colleges
and universities have had to
work outside of the box to
recruit students during the
pandemic.
“The primary way we
recruited students was to
connect with them in-person.
We would go to their high
school, to the career center
or to the counselor’s office
and connect with students,
or go to a college fair that
the school was putting on,”
Genesis Meaderds, admis-
sions director at Eastern
Oregon University, told OPB.
“When COVID hit, our
primary way of recruiting
was no longer an option.”
Meaderds said Oregon’s
The first time leaving
home
The Observer, File
Eastern Oregon University in La Grande has had to adjust,
like other public and private colleges, in how it has recruited
students during the pandemic.
smallest public university
had to pivot primarily to
virtual events and tours.
Initially when switching
to a virtual preview day a
year ago, EOU saw double
the number of registrants,
Meaderds said. But as the
pandemic continued, she said
students appeared to become
less interested in online offer-
ings, leaving them with a
dilemma.
“So how do we connect
with students on social
media? How do we make sure
that they are aware of EOU
being an option?” Meaderds
asked.
Meaderds said EOU’s
efforts to expand its digi-
tal presence have brought
some benefits. For the digital
preview day this spring, EOU
saw students register from
all over the world, including
Haiti, Mexico and the Pacific
Islands.
Addressing the
academic gap
Meaderds said recruiting
and admitting students is half
the battle. Colleges also need
to do major work to ensure
students are supported when
they get to campus in the fall.
“We’re in conversations
now about providing students
support academically so
when they come to campus
that gap isn’t as large, as we
know there will be a gap,”
Meaderds said.
In the national Challenge
Success report, nearly half of
surveyed students reported
feeling less engaged in
their school work last fall
compared with before the
pandemic. A similar share
of students said they were
putting in less effort.
In Oregon, state officials
scaled back requirements on
high school students a year
ago to “mitigate negative
consequences from any lost
learning time due to COVID-
19,” according to the state
education department. Those
changes included replacing
grades for the end of the
2019-20 school year with
“pass-incomplete” marks,
and suspending the “essen-
tial skills” testing require-
ment for graduates in both
2020 and 2021.
The instructional disrup-
tions led college adminis-
trators to consider stronger
Castillo
Ceja
Martinez
Meaderds
Pereyda
Villagomez
support systems for incom-
ing freshmen.
Meaderds noted EOU
already had a “summer
bridge” program prior to the
pandemic, to specifically
serve international students.
There are now conversations
about expanding some sort
of catch-up programming for
incoming students who may
need it — especially students
coming from underrepre-
sented communities.
“EOU is focusing on
ensuring that students are
successful once they get
here,” she said. “We get a
large portion of our students
from Malheur County,
Umatilla County areas with
high Latinx populations,
and a lot of rural students.
And we want to ensure that
these students coming from
their small communities are
successful at EOU during the
pandemic.”
That potential gap in
learning is on the mind of
Hector Castillo, a classmate
of Pereyda’s at McLoughlin
High.
“I just feel like I didn’t
learn what I was supposed
to learn this year because
it was way different on the
computer than in person,”
Castillo said. “So that’s just a
Lessons:
BMCC:
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chose the cheapest option.
A few booths down,
Candelario Rodriguez was
giving students a price for
their car insurance, based on
the vehicle they had chosen
at the transportation booth.
He said he was surprised how
many students had chosen to
drive a used car, even if they
were single and making a
high salary.
When a girl visited his
booth and shared the type
of car she had purchased,
he talk to her about the
importance of purchasing
car insurance before letting
her know it would be $85 a
month.
While most of the booths
caused students to add a
new expense to their budget,
those who were running
out of money could visit the
supplemental income booth
to find out ways they could
increase their revenue.
Lori Spencer went over
options with students that
ranged from picking up a
second job in the evenings
to holding a yard sale for a
one-time infusion of cash.
Some students who visited
the booth learned that as a
single parent they were enti-
tled to child support. One
student decided he was going
to have his teenage daughter
babysit to help cover rent.
“I’m surprised at seeing
some of them with higher
income already coming to
me,” Spencer said after a
student making $77,643
said she was running out of
money and still had more
booths to visit.
Kaylie Cook, whose
scenario sheet said she was
making $65,944 a year as a
single nurse practitioner with
no children, said she didn’t
know how some students
with lower salaries were
going to make it.
“I make a good amount
of money but I feel like I’m
going to run out by the end
of this,” she said.
train students for today, but
also for tomorrow,” Leggett
said.
Blue Mountain soon real-
ized that it could help feed
the UAS pipeline. Leggett
said most of the industry is
currently staffed by ex-mili-
tary, but as it grows, there’s
only so many veterans to go
around. While there are other
community college UAS
programs in Oregon, Leggett
said Pendleton’s selling point
will be its access to the city’s
test range.
In Volatus, the college
found an associate who could
help build the program with
its instructors and industry
knowledge.
Volatus has been running
private classes out of the
Pendleton UAS Range since
the spring, and Springer
said the Blue Mountain
classes will be similar to
its private offerings, just
more spread out due to its
10-week duration.
While students who take
BMCC’s UAS course won’t
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Students meet with volunteers to discuss various facets of
budgeting during the FAB Life simulation at Hermiston High
School on Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
Stretching dollars
Cook said one thing she
had learned from the exercise
is that when she is an adult,
she’ll need to budget care-
fully so she doesn’t run out of
money before she is finished
paying all her bills for the
month.
Giselle Gutierrez and
Jose Cortez, who were wait-
ing together in line for the
housing booth, were making
much less than Cook — about
$34,000 and $32,000 respec-
tively. When asked what had
been the biggest surprise so
far, Gutierrez said it was the
cost of health insurance.
“I got lucky with insur-
ance, because mine is
company sponsored, so it’s
cheaper,” Cortez chimed in.
Gutierrez said the exer-
cise was making her feel bad
for her parents, and all the
budgeting choices they have
to make.
“My husband doesn’t even
work,” she exclaimed, looking
at her scenario sheet. “What is
he doing?”
Liz Marvin, a counselor at
Hermiston High School, said
she was glad the high school
was able to bring back FAB
Life for a second year, despite
the pandemic. In 15 years of
providing educational oppor-
tunities for students at the
school, she said, “this is the
highest student engagement
of anything we’ve done.”
The kit with scenario
sheets for students and price
sheets for the volunteers was
provided by ECMC Group, a
student loan guaranty agency
that also teaches financial
literacy. It also came with
other simulation pieces, such
as “crystal ball” cards that
teachers walk around and
hand students.
“Those are the random
things in life — Grandma sent
$50 for your birthday, your car
broke down,” Marvin said.
She said many students
expressed that they hadn’t
realized how many expenses
they would have each month
once they moved out on their
own. The goal of the exercise
was for students to create a
balanced budget on their own,
but if they needed help, they
could turn to an “SOS” advi-
sor to take a look and walk
them through some sugges-
tions of where they might cut
some expenses.
“In the first group there
was a couple whose sheets
said they were both single,
and they said, ‘Can we get
married?’ and I said sure, and
they split their expenses,”
Marvin said.
She said the high school
couldn’t have done the FAB
Life exercise this year without
the support from the Herm-
iston Chamber of Commerce
and the Hermiston Walmart
Distribution Center, which
provided most of the volun-
teers for the booths and prizes
— including two television
sets — for students to enter
a drawing after completing
their scenario.
Castillo and other students
at McLoughlin said they are
anxious about jumping into
college-level classes after
learning remotely for the
majority of last year. But,
they are excited about the
prospects of new experiences
in new places.
Castillo is trying to decide
between enrolling at nearby
EOU or heading to Cheme-
keta Community College in
the Willamette Valley. He
said he wants to play soccer
at either school but also is
looking into programs in
construction or engineering.
Castillo said EOU’s soccer
coach told him he reached out
too late for a sports scholar-
ship. He’s still waiting to
hear back about other schol-
arships.
Like many of his other
classmates, Castillo has
lived in the small city of
Milton-Freewater for his
whole life.
“I’ll probably feel home-
sick and stuff,” Castillo said.
“I feel like I will just because
I haven’t been away from (my
parents), so it’ll just be like
something new.”
But he said the upcom-
ing fall brings a lot of excite-
ment too: “meeting new
people, this new school and,
like, learning new things and
stuff, and soccer is a little part
of that excitement as well.”
That mix of excitement
and anxiety also the experi-
ence of Andy Ceja, another
student at McLoughlin. He’s
especially concerned about
leaving home for the first
time because his family relies
on him.
“ T hey don’t spea k
English. I’m usually there
helping them with anything
and everything they need
help with — whether that’s
translating, talking with
them about taxes, anything
like that,” Ceja said about his
parents.
Ceja said he’s on a waitlist
for the Northwest Lineman
College in Meridian, Idaho
— roughly a four-hour drive
from Milton-Freewater. He
wants to start winter term,
after he’s been able to work,
save money and maybe move
out of his parents’ house.
“That was kind of an issue
at first, but they kind of just
accepted it,” Ceja said. “They
knew it was probably the best
thing for me to broaden out
and do other things. They’re
sad about it, but they’re
supportive at the same time.”
For some students, the
security and affordability of
staying close to home and
family is competing with
the allure and uncertainty of
moving away.
Emily Martinez said
she’s deciding between
heading off to University of
Portland or attending Walla
Walla Community College,
15 miles away in Washing-
ton. She said the lower price
of staying home and going to
community college is part of
her decision. But she’s also
thinking about the emotional
pull of staying close to her
family.
“When I would talk to
them about the University
of Portland, they felt, you
know, sad because I’m going
to leave,” Martinez said. “But
when I talk to them about
(Walla Walla Community
College) … it’ll be closer, I’ll
still be living with them in
the house. It won’t be as sad.”
Leaving Milton-Freewa-
ter for new experiences is a
goal on many of the students’
minds. For Ahtziry Villago-
mez, college would be just
the beginning. She’s plan-
ning a career of international
travel, starting at the Interna-
tional Air Hospitality Acad-
emy in Vancouver.
“I’m a little nervous, I’m
not going to lie,” she said. “I
did grow up in a small town
and then going from city to
city — I am nervous, but I
think personally I can do it,
because I want the experi-
ence and, like I said, this is a
small town, and I would like
to go into a new, whole differ-
ent bigger city. It’s going to
open my eyes more.”
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Pendleton City Councilor Dale Primmer, center, cuts the
ribbon for a new hangar at the Eastern Oregon Regional
Airport in Pendleton on Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Also
pictured are Pendleton Chamber Ambassadors Tom Kligel,
left, and Fred Bradbury.
be able to use it toward a
degree, Springer said those
that complete the course
should be able to obtain jobs
after completing it. He said a
key point of the program is
that it will connect students
with internship opportuni-
ties, and once they’re finished
with their coursework, many
of those internships will turn
into full-time positions.
With the program set to
start over the summer, the
college is already solicit-
ing donations to help start
a scholarship program for
students. Springer said Vola-
tus is sponsoring two scholar-
ships for high school students
to join the program.
But BMCC’s ambitions
for its UAS program lie
beyond a noncredit certifi-
cate.
Springer and other Blue
Mountain staff and UAS offi-
cials are a part of an advisory
board looking to expand the
program to include associ-
ate’s degree and even bach-
elor’s degree options.
Whisky:
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transfer their tickets to the
2021 event because the
seating and mapping of this
year’s concert is too differ-
ent.
However, existing ticket
holders will get the option
of buying tickets to the 2021
show a day early, on June 3.
The rest of the general public
can begin buying tickets on
June 4.
The show will also be
different in that it will follow
COVID-19 guidelines from
the state and the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion. McAnally outlined
some of the measures in his
email.
“Social distancing will be
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian, File
A fan sits on someone’s shoulders to get a better view
while listening to 50 Cent at the Pendleton Whisky Music
Fest on July 13, 2019.
in place with limited capac-
ity grandstand seating and
extra space in the arena to
give patrons an opportunity
to social distance,” he wrote.
“In addition we will have
numerous hand sanitation
stations around the facilities.
Masks will be available upon
entry into the stadium. Also,
we have contracted with a
national company to clean
and sanitize the restrooms,
portable restrooms and other
high traffic areas throughout
the event.”