When Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and her husband, Dean Gluesenkamp, stepped into Clark’s Automotive Technology lab, it was familiar territory. The couple owns Dean’s Car Care in Portland and have spent their careers working in the business. 

Automotive professors Dannie Nordsiden and Mike Godson showed the congresswoman and her husband around the shop, where students troubleshoot engines and their sophisticated computer systems. The 14,000-square-foot facility allows students an opportunity to work on real cars, trucks and electric vehicles donated by local dealerships and industry workers. With a program history that spans more than 40 years, Clark’s automotive program are producing top-tier automotive technicians with a strong focus on hands-on learning and partnerships with dealerships that include Toyota, Honda, Dick Hannah, and Audi. 

Throughout the two-year-program, all automotive students also get real-world experience working at paid apprenticeships in Vancouver auto shops. In their own repair shop, the congresswoman and her husband hire mechanics from local apprenticeship programs similar to Clark’s. Clark’s automotive technology program has regularly trained successful graduates for 40 years, with students moving on to work in auto shops and dealerships throughout southwest Washington and Portland metro area. 

After seeing gasoline-powered cars in the shop bays, the group gathered around a dismounted electric motor from a Toyota hybrid that students had been working on. Clark’s programs have kept pace with new technology and market demands. 

Next, the group toured the Welding Technology lab with professor Chad Laughlin and the Diesel Technology lab, where professor Don Gonser led the way to a red Peterbilt semitruck with the engine exposed. Gluesenkamp Perez stopped to peer into the engine before posing for a group photo in front of the enormous rig. 

Background 

During her 2022 campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania spoke often about her working-class roots, emphasizing support for small businesses, job training and local concerns, like the timber industry. Her family lives in rural Skamania County in the unincorporated community of Skamania, about 35 miles from Clark’s campus.  

A graduate of Reed College with a degree in economics, she is a businesswoman and a politician. Gluesenkamp Perez has served on the Washington State Democratic Party executive committee since 2020. She has been a member of the Underwood Soil and Water District Conservation board of supervisors since 2018. Her new role as the U.S. representative for Washington’s 3^rd congressional district began in January 2023.   

If you are interested to learn more about the Clark’s Automotive program contact Hernán Garzón, Automotive Student Recruiter at automotive@clark.edu or 360-600-2098.

Gaiser Student Center reverberated with families enjoying music, singing, dancing, and much more during ¡Celebración de Primavera! on the evening of May 5. The community event offered an evening of free, family-friendly activities that celebrated both Latino culture and the value of literacy.  

Children of all ages listened to stories, made sock puppets, watched a puppet show, had their face painted, and made all kinds of handicrafts.  

Families filled their plates with delicious food catered by Los Amigos restaurant, then enjoyed entertainment including lively dancers twirling colorful skirts, interactive music and dancing and a Spanish-language puppet show performed by Clark College Spanish students. Attendees participated in the storytelling, singing and dancing.  

Highlights of the evening included: 

• Children’s interactive live music by Hugo Nava 
• Dancing by Folkloric Ballet group, performing dances from various parts of Latin America 
• Puppet show performed by Clark College Spanish students 
• Clark College student volunteers helping children with crafts including making crepe paper flowers and more 
• Clark College Spanish Club organized face painting and making sock puppets 
• Books for kids  

Event organizer, Michelle Golder, offered many thanks to the event’s planning committee: Betsy Ubiergo and Erika Nava, Spanish faculty; Felipe Montoya, Spanish faculty and Spanish Club advisor; and Rosalba Pitkin, ODEI representative. 

Clark College Spanish Club 

Spanish Club promotes the Spanish-language culture around campus and its communities through events, fundraisers, and activities that provide an active learning experience for students and the community. To learn more, contact John Beck jhbeck1993@gmail.com or Advisor Felipe Montoya fmontoya@clark.edu 

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish

Clark College’s Model United Nations team earned honors at the 72^nd session of Model United Nationals of the Far West, A Force for Good: Global Health and Development for a Sustainable Future from April 21-25 at Whittier College in Burlingame, California. Clark competed against 29 other colleges, most of them four-year institutions. See a list of all participating colleges and their assignments here. 

Model UN activities were on hiatus during the COVID pandemic. 

“It’s been three long agonizing years since the last Model UN Far West,” said Professor Joseph Cavalli, Model UN program director at Clark. “I am ecstatic to report that your Clark College MUN team won honors this this year, picking up where we left off in 2019. This year, in a highly competitive field, Clark College represented Malta and Vietnam.” 

Topics included promoting the safe use of nuclear technology in the eradication of marine microplastics, protecting civilians—especially those with disabilities—in combat zones, and human rights and unilateral coercive measures such as sanctions. 

Model United Nations is a simulation program in which hundreds of thousands of students worldwide participate in model sessions of the United Nations to advance their understanding of the principles and means by which international relations are maintained.  

Clark’s student delegates recognized 

“Special kudos go student delegates Kathryn Johnston, Lanie Smith, and Casey Figone,” said Professor Cavalli. “All three received the Mike McBride Outstanding Resolution Certificate Third Committee for their position paper on UCMs (unilateral coercive measures).” 

Additionally, Kathryn Johnston and Lanie Smith were selected to chair committees at the MUNFW conference in 2024.  

Professor Cavalli added, “Lanie was asked to chair one of the most challenging committees in the MUN universe, the Security Council. This is a big, big deal. Chairing a committee at MUNFW has always been the exclusive purview of the elite California universities as well as Arizona State and University of Arizona respectively. Keep in mind 95% of the student delegates competing are political science and prelaw majors.” 

He added that on Clark’s Model UN Team, “Lanie, Kathryn, and Casey are physics, engineering, and computer science majors respectively. It is nice to see STEM mix it up with the liberal arts.”

In February, Clark’s Model UN team attended the NW Model UN Conference in Portland, its first in-person conference since the pandemic. Clark’s team represented Japan, Kenya, and Latvia. Topics included sustainable mountain development, Human Rights Council periodic reviews of Haiti, Japan and Israel as well as nonproliferation regarding the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.   

Two of Clark’s Model UN team members had been chosen to serve as leaders for the Portland conference. Casey Figone was Assistant Secretary-General of Conference Services. Lani Smith was Director of the Security Council, a much coveted position.  

Next, Clark’s team will compete in Northwest Model United Nations conference November 17-19 in Seattle. 

To participate in Clark’s Model UN team:  

• Model UN typically meets weekly during the academic year. 
• To get involved, contact Professor Joseph Cavalli at jcavalli@clark.edu 

UN and Model UN Facts: 

• The United Nations was founded in 1945. 
• Hear the Secretary General’s message to Model UN here 
• Learn more about Model UN here 

Penguins fly!

Or rather, one “Little Penguin” rocket flew on April 28, with the help of four Clark Aerospace students.

Every spring, the college’s Aerospace program travels to the scrappy sagebrush landscape of Brothers, Oregon, a premier launch site for high-altitude rocket projects, 40 miles east of Bend. Their mission: Launch the rockets they have built during the academic year.

Clark’s team arrived in two cars filled with rockets, tools, four students, and Xiunu “Sophie” Lin, physics professor and director of Clark’s Aerospace Program.

First, student Tyler Lawrence launched his rocket, and it was safely recovered. This achievement marked Tyler’s L1 High Power Rocket Certification.

Great outcome!

Next, the team launched their rocket, dubbed “Little Penguin,” which is 12 feet long, 5 inches in diameter and weighing about 45 pounds. According to the team’s simulations, the rocket with an M-1939 motor could potentially reach a high point of about 16,000 feet (called “apogee” in rocket lingo).

Little Penguin: All Systems Go!

Following a simple countdown, the team launched Little Penguin around 5 p.m. Wow, did that Little Penguin fly!

Professor Lin said, “It took off with tremendous power, producing a shock wave that could be felt 500 feet away from the launch site. The rocket soared straight into the blue sky with a beautiful straight line before disappearing.”

After a rocket is launched, it’s crucial for the team to follow its trajectory visually, so they later can find where it lands. When they lose sight of a rocket, the team uses a radio receiver to follow the signal of a radio tracker attached to the rocket’s nose cone.

But the signal they picked up was weak, indicating that the rocket must have drifted far from the launch site. The students, Professor Lin and the team’s mentor, Jack Caynon started driving, and stopping every few minutes to check the signals and direction before driving forward.

After driving for an hour or two, they eventually picked up a stronger signal. It came from a sagebrush-covered field behind a barbed wire fence. The sun had already set. The team crawled beneath the fence and walked uphill for a mile, where they found Little Penguin 11 miles northeast of the launch site.

Little Penguin broke Clark’s record

Keith Stansbury, the prior director of the college’s Aerospace program, said “an 11-mile recovery is a record for Clark. Eleven miles and we got it back! Phenomenal!”

“Recovering the rocket 11 miles from the launch site is almost a miracle,” said Professor Lin. “The recovery may not have been successful on our very first flight test, but we collected our first set of flight data to analyze and improve our rocket for future flights.”

The team examined the errant Little Penguin and discovered that an insufficient weld led to the bulkhead detaching from the fin cans, causing the rocket to drift in strong winds. The team plans to scrutinize the flight data to glean further insight.

Their next mission: competing at the SpacePort America Cup competition, the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition, held June 19-24 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

“Our students learned good lessons from this flight,” said Professor Lin. “The perseverance they showed during the search of the rocket was impressive and amazing. As a team, we are determined to fail as many times as necessary before we can succeed at the SpacePort America Cup competition.”

Watch the Rocket Launch.
Photos by Carla Caynon, courtesy of the Rocket Club.

Archer Gallery was buzzing as dozens of student artists stood in front of their creations and talked to art appreciators about their work.

The opening reception and awards ceremony for the Art Student Annual exhibition of Clark College art students drew students, faculty, staff, family members and the community.

Although the gallery’s student art show returned to an in-person event last year, it was subdued. This year, it was noisy. The space was filled with conversations and people connecting over art.

“This is the first student art exhibit that feels like we’re back,” said Grant Hottle, art department chair. “We have an astonishing level of work here. Our art faculty are great. We have an extraordinary group of students who work hard.”

There were 150 submissions of student work for this year’s show; 65 pieces were chosen, said Archer Gallery Director Kendra Larson. Students created their work in the past year. Their art professors curated the work.

“The strength and breath of this artwork reflects the hard work, dedication, and unique voices of our amazing Clark Students,” said Larson. “It was a fun celebration of all the art students and their hard work.”

Artwork will be on display from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday until the closing reception on June 9.

Awards prizes were provided by Blick Art Materials, Georgies Ceramics and Clay, Gamblin Paint, Clay Art Center, PICA, McClain’s Printmaking, Collage, ProPhoto Supply, and Blue Moon Camera and Machine.

Award Winners

The awards juror was Prudence Roberts, writer, curator, and art historian. Here are her choices:

• Most Ambitious – Samantha Garcia Ortiz, for “Wine & Cheese Glasses Master Study”
• Solo Show Award – Lissette Torson
• Most Poignant – Syd Ness, for “Self Portrait”
• Best in Photography – Richard Cole, for “This Too shall Pass”
• Second in Photography – Tahnee Calderon Hernandez, for “Win a Prize”
• Third in Photography – Julia Smook, for “Lab”
• Best in Drawing – Colin Johnson, for “A Quiet Place”
• Second in Drawing – Chelsie Cannon, for “10 things I Thought Were Good Ideas at the Time”
• Best in Painting – Lissette Torson, for “Growth”
• Second in Painting – Juan Carlos Garcia, for “Civilization”
• Best in Ceramics – Denise Ostlund, for “Beyond Belief #2”

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish

The Penguin Student Lounge looked and smelled like a delectable bakery as second-year students in Clark’s Professional Baking and Pastry Arts program displayed their creations as part of their capstone project. 

In the first portion of the capstone project, two professional bakers from Portland served as judges in a closed-door session. Greg Mistell, owner, Fleur De Lis Bakery & Café and Josh Svenhard, manager, Eurobake Bakery examined all the baked goods, asked students questions about their techniques and ingredients—and then the judges tasted everything. Fans of “The Great British Baking Show,” know the drill.  

After the judging, it was time for tasting. About 20 people waited outside the lounge in anticipation. When Alison Dolder, Professional Baking and Pastry Arts instructor, unlocked the doors, people made a beeline to tables where five second-year baking students had set up mouth-watering displays of their baked goods.  

Students spent five weeks preparing and baking for their capstone projects. Sometimes the baked goods didn’t come out right, and the student tried again.  

Looking around the room, Professor Dolder said, “They did a nice job. It was good for them to hear from industry professionals who aren’t their instructors.” 

Students have spent two years in the program and will earn an Associate in Applied Technology degree in Professional Baking and Pastry Arts Management. 

May 3 was the students’ last day of class. Next, students get hands-on work experience immersed in internships in professional bakeries in the community. During the five-week internships, students must work a minimum of 24 hours per week. Some will work more. Another student completed his capstone project earlier so that he could travel to Spain for his internship. 

Baker Kenzie Wallers will be doing her internship at Papa Haydn. “I’m excited,” she said. “I’ve already been hired to work full time.” 

Baking changed their lives 

Some students pursued baking right out of high school while others followed other careers but chose baking. 

McKenzie Cullen was a youth librarian before the pandemic. Although she enjoyed her job, she said, “COVID made me rethink what I’m doing with my life. I love baking!” 

Carolyn Nance, 35, said, “I’ve been dreaming about being a baker for a long time. These have literally been the best two years of my life. Clark’s program is even better than I expected.” 

Meet the Bakers: 

McKenzie Cullen 

Capstone focus:  Viennoiserie (laminated doughs) including puff pastry apple turnover, chocolate chip Schnecken croissant, puff pastry palmier, puff pastry vol au vent 

Internship:  Gluten Free Gem, Portland 

Allyson Hartwig 

Capstone focus:  Artisan bread including Nutella raspberry Babka (sweet braided bread), baguette, Winston knot and butter rolls 

Internship:  Di Tazza Gourmet Coffee and Café, Vancouver 

Anna Kakorin 

Capstone focus:  Individual desserts including opera cakes, raspberry vanilla cream puffs, Prinsesstårta (Swedish princess cake), orange creamsicle éclair, and Medovik (Russian summer honeycake)   

Internship:  Chandelier Bakery, Vancouver 

Carolyn Nance 

Capstone focus:  Artisan breads including baguette, pan bread, ciabatta and braided brioche 

Internship:  Forevers Bakery, Hazel Dell 

Kenzie Wallers 

Capstone focus:  Individual desserts including cream puffs, eclairs, mousse bomb, tiramisu, profiteroles and caramel cascade 

Internship:  Papa Haydn, Portland 

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish

Clark College Engineering Professor Carol Hsu is an immigrant, a woman of color, and a pioneer of sorts who pursued a mechanical engineering degree at a time when only 10% of engineering students were women.

But did you know she’s also an avid gamer who plays World of Warcraft?

Professor Hsu talked about these things and more when she spoke to more than 70 Clark College students, faculty and staff at the Spring Student of Color Luncheon on April 25.

The free event is presented each term by Clark’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Multicultural Student Affairs. It provides opportunities for students to be encouraged by inspiring stories, meet faculty and new friends, consider different career paths, and identify community resources and potential mentors.

Professor Hsu shared her story and her lessons learned and shared tips to help students navigate college. She grew up in Taiwan, where she attended school seven days a week. When she was in high school, her family emigrated to Houston, Texas. She didn’t speak English, but thanks to her high school’s ESL classes, she learned.

Recognizing her aptitude to working with her hands, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. Before her teaching career, she was an engineer at various companies including Chevron, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard. In her work, she traveled to many countries and experienced diverse cultures.

Now in her 13^th year of teaching at Clark, she also co-directs NERD Girls and other STEM outreach in the community.

She encouraged students to “find opportunities whenever possible. Get involved.”

Professor Hsu’s advice to students:

• Design is a process. It takes a team.
• Join clubs on campus and get involved to make connections.
• Get to know your professors, who know about opportunities and can write recommendation letters.
• Join a study group and make friends; encourage each other to keep going.

Her words of wisdom:

• “If you tell me ‘no,’ I’m going to show you that I can.”
• “Your reputation follows you, so do a good job.”
• “There’s nothing you can do about the past, but you can change the future.”

Fun Facts about Professor Hsu:

• She is an inventor who holds two U.S. patents.
• She is an avid gamer. In World of Warcraft, she is a warlock.
• She commutes to campus via bus and listens to audiobooks; she has listened to 377 audiobooks.
• Her favorite genre is fantasy; favorite authors include Brendon Sanderson and Neil Gaiman.

Photo: Clark College/Susan Parrish

A fun day of learning

Clark College welcomed dozens of employees’ children—from toddlers to teens for Take Your Child to Work Day on April 27. It was the first time this fun family event returned to campus since 2019 before the pandemic.

Cath Busha, Dean of Student Engagement, who led the event organization, said employees were excited to bring the event back to campus and to give young Penguins an opportunity to do hands-on activities and see the campus where their parents work. Many employees volunteered to create and coordinate the busy day of activities.

Busha’s son, Oliver, 10, listed a slate of activities he’d already enjoyed: scavenger hunt, guessing the number of penguins, getting a cookie from the bakery, and then, it was time to get to the STEM Building for more fun—building an apparatus to sustain a 40-foot drop and going on a walk to learn about bees.

Anina Peethala, 11 and her sister Avina, 7, were in the Bookstore with their father, Sudha Frederick, Vice President of IT. The girls were trying to guess how many penguins were in the clear plastic bin far over their heads. They had already enjoyed their treats from the bakery and visited the gym.

Genevieve Layfield, 7, was hanging out with her dad, Chris Layfield, after she made a photo badge that she wore proudly around her neck on a Clark College lanyard, just like her dad’s.

In the gym of O’Connell Sports Center, Katie Massey, an ASL interpreter who works in Disability Support Services, recorded a video on her phone while her sons, Brody Massey, 11, and Cooper, 9, shot hoops with their new Clark-branded basketballs. Later they blew bubbles in the courtyard outside of the bakery.

Later children lined up to get their photos taken with Oswald, Clark’s mascot.

A great time was had by all. 

The slate of activities included:

• Free photo badges at Security. Thanks to Guided Pathways!
• Penguin Guessing Game in the Bookstore: Two winners took home a stuffed penguin. Free lanyards for kids’ photo badge. Thanks to the Bookstore!
• Pick up free Clark-branded basketballs and shot hoops in the O’Connell Sports Center gymnasium. Thanks to Athletics!
• Free treats from “apprentice bakers” in the food court. Thanks to HR!
• Practice conversation with Spanish, Japanese, or ASL tutors in the Tutoring Center or learn to write their name in a new language
• Guided campus tour led by a student ambassador
• Self-guided campus scavenger hunt
• Built LEGO creations, played games or made a zine at the Teaching and Learning Center
• Gravity Falls – An engineering project in the STEM Building led by professors Tina Barsotti and Carol Hsu. Children designed, built and tested an apparatus to safely deliver candy dropped 40 feet onto a target below.  
• Bee Walk with Professor Steven Clark, Bee Campus Project Manager and Biology Instructor, on the ground outside the STEM Building
• Selfies with Oswald, Clark College mascot in Gaiser Hall
• Story time and zine-making in Clark College Libraries 

Photos: Clark College/Susan Parrish

Author Cecily Wong will speak about her work on Tuesday, May 2, from 11 a.m. to noon in Penguin Union Building 258. This free public event is part of the Clark College Columbia Writers Series.  

Wong is the author of three books. Her debut novel, Diamond Head (Harper, HarperCollins), was a Barnes & Noble’s Discover Great New Writers Selection, recipient of an ELLE Readers’ Prize, and voted a best debut of the 2015 Brooklyn Book Festival.  

Her latest novel, Kaleidoscope (Dutton, Penguin Random House) was published in July 2022 to rave reviews. Wong is also the co-author of The New York Times bestseller Gastro Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to Food (Workman Publishing). 

Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The LA Review of Books, Self Magazine, Bustle, Atlas Obscura, and more. She has spoken at book festivals across the country and was keynote speaker at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival.  

A graduate of Barnard College, Wong spent 13 years living in New York. She now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and daughter.  

Upcoming Writing/Literary Opportunities at Clark: 

• Clark’s Spring Writing Workshop is Saturday, May 20. It will be an in-person event featuring a variety of speakers and workshops. Learn more here.  
• The Swift: Clark College Literary Journal 
• Learn more about Columbia Writers Series at www.clark.edu/cc/cws. 
• More events are planned for the week of May 15—look for announcements about the Subtext Literary Festival.

Photo: Heather Hawksford

Clark College celebrated its annual Sakura Festival on April 20. Rain and cool temperatures moved the community event from underneath a canopy of cherry blossoms to inside Gaiser Student Center. The event was presented by Clark College, the city of Vancouver and Vancouver Rotary.

Clark’s Sakura Festival honors the historic ties of friendship between the sister-cities of Vancouver, Washington and Joyo, Japan. Sakura, or cherry blossoms, are the national flower of Japan. Sakura represents a time of renewal and optimism.  

Clark College President, Dr. Karin Edwards welcomed the community and shared highlights from a trip representing the college in a delegation that visited Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan in March.  

Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnery-Ogle shared the history of the college’s grove of cherry trees and read a letter from Mayor Toshiharu Okuda of the City of Joyo, Vancouver’s sister city. Consul General Yuzo Yoshioka, representing the Japanese consul in Portland, explained that the arrival of the first cherry blossoms in Japan is a big story in Japanese media.  

The entertainment opened with a koto performance by Shigemi Getter, dressed in a traditional kimono, and followed later by Clark College Treble Ensemble under the direction of Jake Funk performed “Sakura” and “Travelin’ Train.” The college’s Japanese Club presented a kimono fashion show. Camas Kendo Dojo demonstrated kendo, a modern Japanese martial art using bamboo swords and protective armor. Portland Shishimai Kai performed the traditional celebratory lion dance of Tokyo, the Edo Kotobuki Jishi.  

A variety of other offerings included early childhood education student art showcase, exhibits including ikebana (Japanese flower arranging) demonstration by Miwa Satoh of Ohara School of Ikebana, a tea ceremony, lessons on using chopsticks to pick up a grain of rice and more. Refreshments of tea and cookies intricately decorated with Sakura blossoms were provided by the college’s Professional Baking & Pastry Arts students.

Some braved the rain to visit the grove of blossoming cherry trees in the Royce Pollard Japanese Friendship Garden at the southwest corner of campus.

PenguinsGive at Sakura Festival

PenguinsGive, Clark College Foundation’s 24-hour fundraising event also was on April 20. At the Foundation’s table at Sakura, members of the O Squad, Clark’s employee giving committee, visited faculty and staff about contributing $90 to support Clark students in celebration of the college’s 90^th anniversary. The Foundation offered free coffee and smoothies at the IQ Credit Union coffee cart.

History of Clark College Sakura Festival

Over 30 years ago, the City of Vancouver received a gift of friendship: 100 Shirofugen cherry trees. They were planted at Clark College, creating an enduring reminder of the bonds between our region and Japan. Over the years, additional cherry trees were added to the college’s Royce Pollard Friendship Garden, including 200 trees gifted by SEH America were planted campus wide. The trees have grown and blossomed—as has that friendship, creating traditions like establishing a sister-city relationship between Vancouver and Joyo, Japan, in 1995 and our annual Sakura Festival in 2006.

Learn more about the history of the Sakura Festival.

View more photographs from the event on our Flickr page.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley