King Elementary students enjoy their new books, donated through the Clark College Bookstore’s 2015 book drive.

Smiles dominated the scene at King Elementary School on March 2 as volunteers from the Clark College Bookstore read Dr. Seuss’s classic The Cat in The Hat to four kindergarten classes as part of Read Across America Day. Following the book readings by volunteers Kaina Barba and Megaera Jarvis, each student received a new copy of the book to keep for their own, courtesy of the Bookstore’s annual book drive. A total of 100 copies were donated by community members, students, staff, and faculty.

Clark College Bookstore volunteers Megaera Jarvis and Kaina Barba read to King Elementary students during Read Across America Day 2015.

“What better way is there to get a child excited to read than with a Dr. Seuss book?” asked Bookstore buyer Marti Earhart, who helps organize the Book Drive. “When the books were handed out, the kids were so excited to open their books to see what words they recognized.”

“The Clark College Book Drive is a wonderful opportunity for King students to hear another adult read a book to them,” King kindergarten teacher Shari Perea said afterward. “The students treasure the book that they receive from the Clark (volunteer) and it, in some cases, is the only book that they own.”

Over the last seven years, the book drive has provided over 1,100 books to local kindergarteners.

Story submitted by Marti Earhart

Photos: Marti Earhart/Clark College Bookstore

High school students visit Clark’s Automotive Technology program for a quick lesson under the hood during the 2015 Professional Technical Day.

Last Thursday 375 high school students visited Clark during its 24th annual Professional Technical Day, visiting with instructors in 18 different programs and finding out more about how to enter these fields themselves.

“Professional Technical Day is fantastic way to introduce local high school students, career counselors, teachers and administrators to the career technical educational opportunities that are available here at Clark College,” says Genevieve Howard,

Students in Clark’s Bakery program share their experiences with high school students during the 2015 Professional Technical Day.

Clark College Dean of Workforce, Career & Technical Education. “With the reduction of career technical education programs in the high schools, this is often the first exposure many students have to these career opportunities, and I think Clark faculty and staff do a great job of getting students excited and engaged around these opportunities.”

The students came from 15 different high schools from the Vancouver and Portland area, including Mountain View, Ft. Vancouver, Union, and Grant. Each student could pick two different program presentations during the half-day event. Popular programs included Automotive (and its highly regarded Toyoto T-TEN program), Welding, Bakery, Nursing/Dental Hygiene, Early Childhood Education, Business Technology, and Medical Office.

Area high school counselors and educators had a chance to hear about the future of technical careers from industry experts during Clark’s 2015 Professional Technical Day.

In addition to the students, 45 counselors, teachers, and principals attended the event. They were given a full tour of the available programs, as well as the opportunity to hear a panel discussion with industry experts about job prospects and educational requirements for today’s professional technical careers. Panelists were: Jim Lucey, human resources director of Linear Technology; Matt Houghton, general manager of Schurman Machine; Natalie Pacholl, training program specialist at SEH America; and Craig Baldwin, head of worldwide operations at nLight.

“At Professional Technical Day, high school students get a rare opportunity to interact with Clark College instructors and professors in hands-on learning environments that demonstrate the academic rigor and technical skill involved in career pathways such as: Welding Technology, Automotive Technology, Mechatronics, and Computer Networking, Science and Engineering,” says Clark College Student Recruitment Specialist Jami Fordyce, who helped organize the event. “We hope that students leave inspired and more confident than ever that college is part of their future, and that Clark College is a wonderful place to start.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

The Rocky Horror Show’s title character is brought to life in the Theatre Department’s 2015 winter quarter musical.

To quote Dr. Frank N. Furter, “We see you shiver with anticipa…tion.” Clark College Theatre continues its 2014-15 season with the raunchy camp musical classic, The Rocky Horror Show by Richard O’Brien. The play is directed by H. Gene Biby and runs Feb. 27 – March 14.

This gleeful spoof of science fiction and horror B movies from the 1950s, made famous by its 1975 film adaptation, has become a beloved cult hit thanks to midnight-movie showings of the film in which audience members dress as their favorite characters and shout lines in response to the film’s dialog. The plot, which involves a naïve young couple being seduced into a world of wonton sexuality by a cross-dressing alien named Dr. Frank N. Furter, is secondary to wickedly clever and high-energy musical numbers like “Sweet Transvestite,” “The Time Warp,” and “Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me.”

Michal Capell struts his stuff as Dr. Frank N. Furter in the Theatre Department’s 2015 winter quarter musical, “The Rocky Horror Show.”

“For fans of the midnight movie showings, this is a great way to connect with a favorite musical the way it was originally intended to be experienced: as live theatre,” said Biby, who is also head of the Theatre Department. “For those who have never seen the movie, this is an opportunity to enjoy the show without having it be overshadowed by the audience. We encourage audience participation and even sell prop bags at the door, and we’re hoping many audience members dress up the way they might for a movie screening, but at the same time this is live theatre and we encourage respect for our actors. You’ll actually be able to hear the original dialog and song lyrics during the performance.”

Cast includes Kennedy Marvin (Usherette/Phantom), James Martine (Brad), Alexandra Mills (Janet), Mila Boyd (Narrator), Garrett Dabbs (Riff Raff), Wyley Thomason (Columbia), Tatiana Cannalla (Magenta), Michal Capell (Frank N. Furter), Steven Goolsby (Rocky),  Zak Campbell (Eddie), and JD Carpenter (Dr. Scott). Performing as Phantoms are Andrew Forrest, Kiara Gaulding, and Isabella Guetter.

Show Dates: February 27 and 28, March 6, 7, 12, 13, and 14. All show times are at 7:30 p.m. Midnight show on March 7.

Ticket Information: Students (with ID) $11; Alumni (with membership) $11; Senior Citizens $13; General Admission $15. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Clark College Bookstore in Gaiser Hall, online at http://www.clarkbookstore.com/site_theatre.asp, or call 360-992-2815. If you need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit the Penguin Union Building room 013, two weeks before the event.

More photos.

Photos: Jenny Shadley/Clark College

Three outstanding women working in different fields, but with a similar commitment to improving the lives of others in Southwest Washington, are the winners of the 2015 Iris Awards, honoring women of achievement in Southwest Washington.

The awards will be presented to Lisa Schauer, Senior Vice President for Business Development at Mackay Sposito; Lori Pulliam, Director of Transition at the Washington State School for the Blind; and Victoria Bradford, owner of Comfort Interiors and a member of the Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors.

Schauer, Pulliam, and Bradford will be honored on March 5, 2015 in Clark College’s Gaiser Student Center. Following a 5 p.m. reception, the awards ceremony will begin at 6 p.m.

Tickets are on sale through the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce at www.vancouverusa.com. The cost is $35 per person; a table sponsorship, which includes six tickets, can be purchased for $250. Seating is limited.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps. Anyone needing accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at (360) 992-2314 or (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013, by February 27.

The Iris Awards are a continuation of a tradition of honoring women in Southwest Washington that began in 1985 with a photography exhibit at Clark College. Over the years, the annual event has developed into an official awards ceremony, with a nomination process open to all members of the local community.

The Iris Awards are supported by Clark College, the Clark College Foundation, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the Vancouver Business Journal, which publishes the “Women in Business” directory, the only Portland/Vancouver metro area directory of businesses that are owned, directed or managed by women. The Iris Award winners will be featured in the 2015 “Women in Business” directory.

The 2015 Iris Award Recipients

Lisa Schauer

Lisa Schauer, standing, goes over spreadsheets at MacKay Sposito.

Lisa Schauer is a Senior Vice President for Business Development at MacKay Sposito. She was the first female partner in the regional engineering consulting firm. As a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee, she is currently responsible for strategically positioning the firm’s business development and marketing efforts. Schauer is well known throughout MacKay Sposito and in the industry for her commitment to people and mentoring, including launching the company’s Veteran’s Council, in 2013 to recognize and support veterans.

Schauer is equally well known through her involvement in the community. She is on the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Center and was a Founding Board Director and is currently the Chair of H-RoC Political Action Committee, a non-partisan group formed to advance women leaders in Southwest Washington. She has served on many other boards and leadership positions.

Lori Pulliam

Lori Pullman working with a member of the LIFT program.

Lori Pulliam has been teaching at the Washington State School for the Blind for 32 years, and currently manages the residential department which provides residential services and education to our middle and high school students, and the LIFTT program, which teaches young adults with visual impairment skills of independent living. Throughout these 32 years she has taught students with deaf-blindness, worked with students from WSSB who were taking classes in the local public schools, taught career education and worked with students in community based work experience placements.

Lori has helped develop programs to improve employment prospects for blind students. She was part of a team that developed the Youth Employment Solutions (YES), a summer career education and work experience program for students with visual impairment. She has been a long time staff member for a summer course for public school educators. Lori has served on boards and commissions in the state. Currently she is serving on the Disability Transition Task Force. Locally she is a member of the Fort Vancouver Lions Club and has given her time to coaching soccer and participating in efforts like the Walk and Knock Food Drive.

Victoria Bradford

Victoria in her interior design shop, Comfort Interiors.

Victoria Bradford is the owner of Comfort Interiors. She bought the interior design business in 2000, and under Bradford’s ownership, the company has won awards in both the Vancouver Parade of Homes and the Portland Street of Dreams.  She is also one of the founders of Pomeroy Equitable Solutions, a company created to give businesses the opportunity to partner with schools to fund needed programs.

Beyond her full-time duties as a business owner, Bradford has served on the Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors for the past 15 years. Bradford has served four times as Board President and Vice President, as well as the legislative representative and federal liaison for both the EPS District and the Washington State School Directors Association. The Evergreen Public School District is the fourth-largest school district in the state, and the third-largest employer in Clark County, with more than 27,000 students and an annual budget of over $240 million.  She has been a leader during highs and lows in the district, from the budget cuts of the late 2000s to the opening or remodeling of 15 schools.  A signature achievement was her instrumental role in researching and establishing Henrietta Lacks (HeLa) High, a bioscience and healthcare high school, in the district. Bradford is also a founder of the Quality Schools Coalition of SW Washington.

Bradford is a member of the Vancouver Downtown Association. She is on the Development Committee at The Fort Vancouver National Trust and has parlayed her love of ballroom dancing into best dance honors at the Trust’s 2012 Dancing with the Local Stars competition.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Clark College Bookstore buyer Kaina Derwin reads to Crestline Elementary students during Read Across America Day 2014.

As Theodor Geisel (aka “Dr. Seuss”) once wrote, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” Heeding those words, Clark College has chosen to make the beneficiary of its seventh annual book drive Vancouver’s King Elementary School.

The Clark College Bookstore is hoping that Book Drive supporters will purchase 100 copies of the Dr. Seuss classic The Cat in the Hat. The books will be given to kindergarteners at King Elementary on Read Across America Day, a celebration to commemorate the birthday of Theodor Geisel (aka “Dr. Seuss”). Books will be read aloud to students by volunteers from Clark College Bookstore.

Copies of the selected Dr. Seuss books will be available for purchase and donation Feb. 16-27 for $6.85 each (plus tax). Each book will include a nameplate with the donor’s name. Donors will be able to purchase books at the Bookstore or online via the Bookstore’s website at www.clarkbookstore.com, making it quick and convenient to participate in the book drive.

“The Clark College Book Drive is a wonderful opportunity for King students to hear another adult read a book to them,” says King kindergarten teacher Shari Perea. “The students treasure the book that they receive and, in some cases, it is the only book that they own.”

According to Clark College Bookstore buyer Marti Earhart, one of the organizers of the drive, “I’ve personally handed books to students nearly every year of the book drive. I don’t doubt for a moment that each one of the kids will be reading the book on their own in a few weeks!”

Bookstore manager Monica Knowles adds, “I delight in knowing the joy those books bring to our local community and I don’t hesitate to challenge my friends and family to join it!”

The Clark College Bookstore is located in Gaiser Hall on the northern end of Clark’s main campus. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps. Information about the bookstore is available at www.clarkbookstore.com. For additional information, contact Marti Earhart at the Clark College Bookstore at 360-992-2261.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

On Saturday, February 28, the Penguin Athletic Club, in conjunction with the Athletics Department at Clark College, will hold the annual Clark College Athletic Hall of Fame banquet and induction ceremony at 5 p.m. in the Penguin Union Building. The banquet and ceremony will take place after the women’s and men’s basketball games that day, which start at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. respectively. The inductees will be honored during halftime of the men’s game.

This year’s honorees include:

Lisa Boe (Women’s Basketball) helped lead her team to 55 wins during her two seasons at Clark College. In 1989 the Penguins won the NWAACC (now NWAC) Championship; in 1990, they finished second. Boe was First Team All-NWAACC both years and MVP of the league one year. She was selected to the All-Tournament team both years, and was MVP of tourney one year. Boe, who went on to play at the University of Central Missouri, and is currently a Portland police officer.

Coach George Fullerton (Track & Field) coached Track at Clark for 24 years (1958-1989), guiding his student athletes to the 1960 NWAACC Track & Field Championship, as well as numerous regional championships during the course of his career. Fullerton lives in Vancouver.

Denny Huston received his Associate of Arts degree from Clark, where he was student athlete (1959-1961), coach (1965-1969), and Athletic Director (2008-2011). He also coached basketball at Camas High School and had many coaching stints at the college level from 1963 to 1992.

The 1989 Women’s Basketball Team won Clark’s first NWACC basketball championship, finishing the season 27-6. (pictured at top)

For more information on this event, please access the Hall of Fame link at http://www.clarkpenguins.com/hof.aspx. Individuals can also register online by February 21 at www.cvent.com/d/krq8gg. Tickets are $25.00 per person.

If you need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, you should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013 as soon as possible.

“Poetry is about being able to speak the truth,” said Aaron Reader in his keynote address during Clark’s 2015 Martin Luther King observance. “And Dr. King not only spoke the truth, he acted on it.”

“Dr. King started the battle, but the war has not been won.”

That was one line from “Sleepwalking,” the poem spoken-word artist Aaron Reader chose to begin his presentation honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., held January 21 in Gaiser Student Center. Reader had come to Clark as the keynote speaker for the college’s annual Martin Luther King Day observance.

“It’s because of Dr. King that I am able to speak to you today,” Reader told his audience. “It’s because of Dr. King that I was able to get a master’s degree. At one point, people like me didn’t even go to college.”

Reader grew up in Oakland, California. In his teens, he began using poetry as an outlet to express the ups and downs of being a young African-American male in inner-city America. Today, in addition to his spoken-word performances and his work as a motivational speaker and workshop facilitator around issues of diversity and equity, he also serves as the director of multicultural services at Bellevue College.

In was in his capacity at the college that he was invited to participate in a seven-day bus tour of significant sites from the 1960s civil rights movement, and much of his presentation focused on that experience.

“I went to the south and I realized that I have been sheltered living here in the Pacific Northwest,” he said. “We went to a spot where we got off the bus, and the guide said, ‘We don’t let students go down that road there because that’s where the Ku Klux Klan are.’”

Aaron Reader with MLK Celebration Committee members, left to right, Felisciana Peralta, Rosalba Pitkin, Michelle Golder, Rosalyn Guerrero, and Dolly England.

Reader said that the experience not only gave him a deeper connection to the history of civil rights in this country, but also some uncomfortable insight into disparities that remain today. He recounted one moment when the 30 members of his tour group—a combination of college students, employees, and alumni—arrived at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. King was shot and killed in 1968 on the second-floor balcony.

“I’m looking up at this thing and I’m starting to lose it,” recalled Reader. “I’m getting choked up. Some of the students were starting to cry. And then one of the [white] faculty said, ‘How many of you are up for Starbucks?’”

Reader said that afterward, he had private conversations with some of his colleagues to explain how that moment had been hurtful to the students of color on the tour. He told the audience to be ready to have such conversations themselves. “As social-justice activists, as warriors, you’re going to have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” he said.

Afterward, during a question-and-answer period following Reader’s presentation, a white faculty member asked how she and her white colleagues at Clark could help support diverse students at the college.

“Number One is to listen,” Reader advised. “Oftentimes, I think that when we think we get it, we shut our ears off. Don’t be so quick to say, ‘I understand.’ Before you say you understand, take a moment to really listen.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Video: Nick Bremer-Korb

Many of us value our pets as sources of comfort, companionship, and protection. But what if it turned out that they were also teaching our children valuable lessons that could help them be better adults? Clark College psychology professor Dr. Mika Maruyama tackles the crucial role animals can play in early childhood development during her Faculty Speaker Series presentation, “Why Do We Need a Pet? Effects of animals on children’s socio-emotional development,” held Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. in the Ellis Dunn Community Room (Gaiser Hall room 213) on Clark College’s main campus.

“In America, most people own or have owned a pet, but they may not realize that these animals can actually improve your health and well-being—lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, and, in the case of children, strengthening emotional development,” says Dr. Maruyama, who has published numerous articles and book chapters on the topic. “This talk could apply to anyone in the fields of social science, psychology, early childhood education, women’s studies, or nursing, as well as anyone interested in social issues like interpersonal violence and how our pets can help us raise healthy children.”

Dr. Maruyama shares her intriguing research findings, which suggest that children learn more than we suspect from animal companions. The daily interactions they have with pets can help develop the important quality of empathy. Likewise, studies show that when children regularly mistreat animals, we need to pay attention—as it could be a warning sign of further violence to come as the child grows up.

This presentation is free and open to the public. Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps. Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event may contact Clark’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (video phone) or email dss@clark.edu within one week of the event.

This presentation is part of Clark’s prestigious Faculty Speaker Series. The theme for this year’s series is “Microbes, Pets, and Puppets: What Animals Can Teach Us.” The final presentation, “Bilingual Puppetry: a Project-Based Learning Exploration” by Spanish professor Elizabeth Ubiergo, is scheduled for May 12.

About Dr. Mika Maruyama

Dr. Mika Maruyama is a tenure-track professor teaching both general and lifespan psychology at Clark College. A native of Japan, she has studied the psychological relationship between animals and human development in both American and Japanese society as well as social issues including animal cruelty, domestic violence, child maltreatment, and juvenile delinquency. She has contributed to numerous academic journals, handbooks, and textbooks, including Animal Abuse and Developmental Psychopathology (2010, APA Books), Human Development (2008, Wadsworth Publishing), and International Handbook of Theory and Research on Animal Abuse and Cruelty (2008, Purdue University Press). Dr. Maruyama earned her bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and both her master’s and doctorate degrees in psychology from Portland State University. She began teaching at Clark in 2011.

Award-winning author Jess Walter reads at the 2015 winter quarter installment of Clark College’s Columbia Writers Series.

During the 2015 winter quarter installment of its renowned Columbia Writers Series, Clark College will welcome best-selling writer Jess Walter, whose award-winning work was recently deemed “captivating” by the New York Times and “bad-ass” by Esquire magazine.

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of six novels, one book of short stories, and one nonfiction book. His 2012 novel, Beautiful Ruins, was both a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, as well as Esquire‘s Book of the Year and NPR Fresh Air’s Novel of the Year. His 2009 novel, The Financial Lives of the Poets was Time magazine’s No. 2 Novel of the Year. His most recent book, the 2013 collection of short stories called We Live in Water, was described by the Seattle Times as “[s]tories that twist and plumb, delivering unexpected laughs while playing with what it is we think we know … Walter has emerged as one of the country’s most dazzling novelists … so freakishly, fiendishly good, it isn’t fair.”

Walter’s work has been translated into 30 languages, and his essays, short fiction, criticism and journalism have been widely published, in Best American Short Stories, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Harper’s, Esquire, McSweeney’s, Byliner, Playboy, ESPN the Magazine, Details and many others. He lives with his wife Anne and children, Brooklyn, Ava and Alec in his childhood home of Spokane, Washington.

Walter will read from some of his works and discuss his writing process from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 11, in Foster Auditorium on Clark’s main campus. The event is free and open to the public. Directions and maps are available online. Individuals who need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services (DSS) Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP). The DSS office is located in room 013 in Clark’s Penguin Union Building.

The Columbia Writers Series was launched at Clark College in 1988, bringing local, national and international authors to the college and the region. Information about the Columbia Writers Series is available at www.clark.edu/cc/cws.

Dental Hygiene students work in the new Firstenburg Family Dental Hygiene Education and Care Center.

The Clark College Dental Hygiene Program will hold a free children’s dental clinic on Saturday, February 7 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the main campus of Clark College. The event will take place in the newly remodeled Firstenburg Dental Hygiene Education and Care Center in the Health Sciences Building.

Dental hygiene students from Clark College will provide care under the direct supervision of licensed dental hygienist and dentists. Services will include cleanings, sealants, x-rays, and fluoride for children ages 18 and under. Appointments can be scheduled by calling the Dental Hygiene Business Office at 360-992-2158.

This has been an exciting time for the Dental Hygiene program. Its recently approved Bachelor of Applied Science degree–the college’s first-ever baccalaureate degree–will begin taking students in fall 2015. The program also recently opened the Firstenburg Family Dental Hygiene Education and Care Center. The $3.3 million facility renovation was funded by donations from a variety of entities including the Firstenburg Foundation, Roy and Virginia Andersen Endowment, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, John A. and Helen M. Cartales Foundation. Renovations of the space allow the program to serve more students and more patients–particularly children and underserved populations.

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, WA 98663. Driving directions and parking maps are available at www.clark.edu/maps. If you need accommodation due to a disability in order to fully participate in this event, contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at or (VP), or visit Penguin Union Building room 013 as soon as possible.