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 sixth annual “Seuss-a-Palooza” book drive and literacy event Vancouver’s Crestline Elementary School, which was destroyed by fire in February 2013.

The Clark College Bookstore is hoping that Seuss-a-Palooza supporters will purchase 190 copies the Dr. Seuss classic, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. The books will be given to kindergarteners and first-graders at Crestline’s temporary location on Read Across America Day (held on March 3, the day after Geisel’s birthday). 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. 10-21 for $6.85 each (plus tax). Each book will have a nameplate for 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.

“Last year’s book drive had already begun when we learned about the fire at Crestline, so it was unfortunate that we couldn’t collect donated books for them then,” said Clark College Bookstore buyer Marti Earhart, who helps organize the event. “However, the Crestline students are still in temporary facilities and are sacrificing a lot while they wait for their school to be rebuilt. We chose Crestline students as the book recipients of this year’s book drive because we want the children, parents, and staff to know we think of them and care.”

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.

Clark College Band Director Rich Inouye leads the Clark College Jazz Ensemble at the college’s 52nd annual Jazz Festival.

From January 30 through February 1, Gaiser Student Center was swinging with the sounds of big-band jazz during Clark College’s renowned Jazz Festival. The event brought 60 jazz bands from middle and high schools around the region to compete in multiple divisions.

But while the sounds were big, some of the musicians were still quite small: The first day of this annual tradition was devoted entirely to middle school performers. Festival director and Clark College music professor Rich Inouye explained the importance of including these young performers in the competition.

Aspire Middle School participates in the Jazz Festival.

“Encouraging jazz performance at the middle-school level is very important to ensuring young people realize how important jazz music is to our culture,” he said. “The style and characteristics of the music promote independence of thought, self-discipline, responsibility, communication, and teamwork, and the festival environment not only allows them to strive for excellence in their performance, but also allows them to listen to the excellence their peers from the other schools represent.”

On Friday night, before the A and AA awards were announced, Inouye gave the gathered competitors another source of inspiration: Before he led the Clark College Jazz Ensemble through their own performance, he introduced his students by name and said which high school each had attended, illustrating how many had come from A and AA schools. The crowd cheered loudly as the names of their schools were mentioned.

This year’s Jazz Festival poster and program were designed by Clark College student Luke Acevedo, who is nearing the completion of his Associate of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design at Clark College.

“I have been fortunate to have all the high school directors in the area encourage their students to perform in my bands at Clark,” Inouye said later. “I appreciate all the students who have chosen to come to Clark to play in our bands, but in the last couple years I have had the privilege of getting the top musicians from smaller schools in the outlying areas. The Greater Vancouver-area high schools have some of the strongest band programs in the country … but having been the product of a small, rural school myself, I do have affinity for the smaller, outlying schools. I believe the mix of these students with some of the students from the larger schools is what provides the excitement and distinction for what we do here.”

Now in its 52nd year, the Clark College Jazz Festival is one of Southwest Washington’s largest jazz festivals. Trophies are presented in all divisions, and individual outstanding musician awards are presented at the end of each day’s preliminary competitions. On Saturday evening, the the Dale Beacock Memorial Sweepstakes Award is presented to one outstanding band selected from the entire festival.

For 2014, the Dale Beacock Memorial Sweepstakes trophy was awarded to Garfield High School from Seattle, Washington.

Thursday, January 30, 2014 middle school jazz ensemble finals results:

1^st place – Eckstein Middle School from Seattle, Washington
2^nd place – Beaumont Middle School from Portland, Oregon
3^rd place – Hamilton International Middle School from Seattle, Washington

Special recognition went to Washington Middle School from Seattle, Washington, for being asked to perform in the evening finals.

Outstanding Middle School Jazz Musician certificates were presented to:

Hannah Wells and Joseph Gardner from Aspire Middle School, Lacey, Washington
Milli McFall, Misae Nguyen from Hamilton International Middle School, Seattle, Washington
Brayton Sobolewski and Daniel Conway from Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Middle School, Vancouver, Washington
Eltan Davis and Sammie Wiegand from Beaumont Middle School, Portland, Oregon
Marco Thompson from Washington Middle School, Seattle, Washington
Kai Despain, Sean Bowman, Julia Tanner, Austin Isgrig, and David Maltby from Eckstein Middle School, Seattle, Washington
Katriana Armstrong and Vanessa Gress from Chief Umtuch Middle School, Battle Ground, Washington
Jerich Embleton from Creswell Middle School, Creswell, Oregon
Shermon Mattson from Pleasant Valley Middle School, Vancouver, WA
Shane Walz, Morgan Kennedy, and Ainsle Cromer from Tukes Valley Middle School, Battle Ground, Washington
Skyler Verity from Laurin Middle School, Vancouver, Washington

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Jazz Festival at Clark College (middle school competition)

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College (middle school competition)

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Jazz Festival at Clark College (middle school competition)

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College (middle school competition)

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College (middle school competition)

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Jazz Festival at Clark College

Clark College hosts the 52nd annual Jazz Festival. Schools from the region come to compete and participate in music clinics at Clark Colleee.

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Friday, January 31, 2014 A and AA division high school jazz ensemble finals results:

A Division:
1^st place – Ridgefield High School Jazz I, Ridgefield, Washington
2^nd place – Woodland High School, Woodland, Washington
3^rd place – Astoria High School, Astoria, Oregon

AA Division:
1^st place – Hockinson High School, Brush Prairie, Washington
2^nd place – Fife High School from Tacoma, Washington
3^rd place – Washougal High School from Washougal, Washington

Outstanding high school musician awards for the A Division were presented to:

John Mcgee from Philomath High School, Philomath, Oregon
Devin Van Laar from Trout Lake High School, Trout Lake, Washington
Nick Bischoff from Ridgefield High School II, Ridgefield, Washington
Nathan Mitchell and Gabrielle Allegri from Ridgefield High School I, Ridgefield, Washington

Outstanding AA high school musician awards for the AA Division were presented to:

T Anderson from Washougal High School, Washougal, Washington
Erin Jones from Fife High School, Tacoma, Washington
Nathan Nyseth and Lillian Quintana from Hockinson High School, Brush Prairie, Washington
Jack Tietjen from R.A. Long High School, Longview, Washington
Daniel Kransuler and Jenny Kim from Sammamish High School, Bellevue, Washington

Saturday February 1, 2014 AAA and AAAA division high school jazz ensemble finals results:

AAA Division:
1^st place – Meadowdale High School from Lynnwood, Washington
2^nd place – Mt. Spokane High School from Spokane, Washington
3^rd place – Mead High School Jazz I, Spokane, Washington

AAAA Division:
1^st place – Garfield High School from Seattle, Washington
2^nd place – Battleground High School from Battleground, Washington
3^rd place – Union High School from Camas, Washington

Outstanding high school musician awards for the AAA Division were presented to:

Cormac Liotta Sharma from Roosevelt High School II, Seattle, Washington
Ori Levari from Meadowdale High School, Lynnwood, Washington
Andrew Sauage and Travis Widmer from Mt. Spokane High School, Spokane, Washington
Lanie Pham form Battle Ground High School, Battle Ground, Washington
Jorge Marcia from Vancouver School for the Arts and Academics, Vancouver, Washington

Outstanding high school musician awards for the AAAA Division were presented to:

Kaleb Armstrong, Steve Mantecucco, and Nickolas Schell from Battle Ground High School, Battle Ground, Washington
Devin Perez from West Salem High School, Salem, Oregon
Isak Washuburn-Gaines, Alice Mar-Abe, and Jack Swigget from Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington
Stephen Reid from Union High School Jazz I, Camas, Washington
Jimmy Root from Lake Stevens High School, Lake Stevens, Washington

Shelly Williams contributed to this article.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

See more photos on Flickr.

Lee Mun Wah gives his keynote speech during “The Unfinished Conversation.”

A young, African-American student who feels like he doesn’t fit in at college. A professor who spent years feeling isolated because of her race. A quiet young man constantly bullied for being different. A mother struggling to learn how to teach her sons how to deal with racism she never encountered in her home country. An Indian man who regularly faces ignorance about his culture. These were just some of the stories that became part of “The Unfinished Conversation,” a daylong series of events led by diversity educator Lee Mun Wah during Clark College’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, held on January 22.

Peer Mentor and Clark student Ezekiel Wells participating in “The Unfinished Conversation.”

“The Unfinished Conversation” comprised an employee diversity training in the morning; a lunchtime keynote speech followed by an open dialog with students; and an evening screening of If These Halls Could Talk, Lee’s documentary film about college students tackling race and racism. True to the day’s theme, Lee—a nationally recognized poet, documentary filmmaker, and diversity trainer—spent much of his time encouraging conversation between different members of the college community. The discussion was at times both revealing and emotional—more than once, participants broke into tears as they related personal experiences of prejudice and isolation.

Lee said this sense of alienation can keep students of color from achieving their educational goals. “When I was filming If These Halls Could Talk, three-quarters of the students of color in the group were thinking about dropping out,” he said. “And I picked those students randomly!”

Lee urged his listeners to make a regular practice of seeking out and socializing with people different from themselves. “Walk into your lunch room and see who is eating in groups, who is eating alone,” he said. “Dr. King was wrong when he said that the most segregated hour of the week is 11:00 on Sunday–it’s lunchtime.”

Ezekiel Wells, a Clark student who works as a Peer Mentor at the college, said he appreciated that Lee invited him to tell the more than 80 Clark College employees who gathered for the morning session about what it was like to attend Clark as a young African-American male. “He was fearless,” Wells said. “He was willing to dig deep and talk about things people don’t want to talk about.”

Professor Debi Jenkins, right, assists Lee Mun Wah in some role playing during his keynote speech.

Psychology and Early Childhood Education professor Debi Jenkins agreed. “I found his activities helpful in encouraging critical thought and action regarding power, privilege, and inequity with a goal of building a sense of community,” she said, noting that colleagues later told her they were moved by her emotional description of the loneliness she felt during the time when she was the only African-American female tenured faculty member at Clark.

For nineteen-year-old Jacob Lein, the day proved unexpectedly affecting. He happened to be walking through Gaiser Student Center when Lee began his keynote speech and stayed to listen. But when Lee asked him to tell his story to the group, he found himself describing the pain of being bullied in high school for being tall, skinny, and affected by Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—and then amazed when the room burst into supportive applause. The surprises weren’t over for Lein: When Lee broke the audience into pairs to more intimately discuss their experiences with being different, Lein found himself sharing stories with Clark College President Bob Knight.

Lee Mun Wah encourages a student during the open dialog that followed his keynote speech. He urged the group to really listen and ask questions.

“I had no idea he was the president,” said Lein, who is in his first quarter at Clark with the goal of becoming an American Sign Language interpreter. “It was a great experience.”

President Knight said he appreciated the chance to get to know Lein. “I thought the session was very good and made me reflect back on a time in my life where I was harassed and how I dealt with it,” he said. “It also allowed me to get to know a student that I had never met before and to learn more about him and the obstacles he has faced in life and at Clark College. It made me want to know the student better. We have exchanged phone numbers and plan to get together for lunch in the very near future.”

Because the conversation still isn’t finished—but, as Lee Mun Wah clearly demonstrated, it helps to keep talking.

Interested in continuing the conversation? The Teaching and Learning Center is hosting two employee trainings by the Office of Diversity and Equity in February: “Cultural Competency” (February 6, 12 pm – 1 pm, GHL 213) and “Power, Privilege and Inequality at Clark College” (February 26, 10 am – 11 am, GHL 205). Additionally, Professor Debi Jenkins discusses “Support for a Diverse Workforce through Communities of Practice” during her Faculty Speaker Series presentation, which is open to the public (February 13, 4 pm – 5 pm, GHL 213). Or visit the Clark 24/7 calendar and search for events tagged with the keyword “diversity.”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

More photos of the event can be found on our Flickr page.

Enrico “Rico” Selga is a well-known figure to many at Clark College. Either they recognize him from his time as a nursing student here during the 1990s, or they saw him receive the Clark College Foundation’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2010, or they’ve ordered a latte from him at one of the two coffee kiosks he and his wife, Jennifer, run on Clark’s main campus. However, not everyone knows what he does with his “off” hours: For years, Selga has volunteered with the church-based nonprofit Medical Teams International in areas stricken by disaster or conflict. He’s done so much of this work that MTI now sends him as a “First in Team” member, tasked with scouting the area and organizing resources before the rest of the medical team arrives. When the Philippines were hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan on November 8, 2013–demolishing buildings and killing thousands of people–Selga, who is originally from the Philippines, was one of the first volunteers to land in the hard-hit town of Guiuan. We wrote about Selga’s trip to treat earthquake victims in Haiti in a previous issue of Clark 24/7; here, Selga describes his latest experience in his own words.

Looking from the small window of the Australian Air Force C-130 airplane one week after Super Typhoon Haiyan, the community of Guiuan looked like it had been bombed. Houses were flattened; trees were uprooted or snapped in half. Once I was on the ground, I could also see that all the vehicles were damaged and that the people were wet and dirty. Locals told me that some people had resorted to eating dogs for food, while others had looted stores for food or items to trade for food. Survivors created shelters from scraps of wood or tin. Others used tarpaulins or plastic bags. During the nights, the wind would blow so hard that the rain went sideways. It was impossible to stay dry, and the combination of wetness, hunger, and thirst made it close to impossible to sleep.

Guiuan residents line up to use the phone.

Under normal conditions, Guiuan is a tropical paradise, filled with picturesque white sand beaches perfect for surfing and diving. But Haiyan left nothing standing. Houses were demolished beyond repair. Hotels and resorts were reduced to sticks and rubble. Wells that normally provide safe drinking water were contaminated. Fallen trees and power lines made the streets unpassable by car.

The children walked around the community with their parents, checking on their neighbors. I could hear the children telling their parents that they were hungry and thirsty. I tried my best to hold back my tears because I too have a child. I knew that children ages 6 months to 2 years would be particularly vulnerable because there was no milk or safe water to drink. Inevitably, many of them would get sick or die from the conditions. I cannot imagine how helpless their parents must feel. I know that if the roles were reversed, I too would be looting and stealing.

Yet these same people who looted were the first ones to share their food. Food rations were scarce, but people still shared them with their neighbors. Despite the catastrophe people found ways to smile and laugh. It was beautiful to observe the people banding together to help each other. And then one of them helped me.

On my first day in Guiuan, I met Klaus Engesvoll, the man who became my savior and best friend. I was sitting on the bench at Viva grocery, which had become the relief center of the town. There was a long line outside the looted grocery for the only functional satellite phone available to call the outside world. People were given 60 seconds to talk to someone. Each person was given three chances to dial a phone number. If nobody answered on the other side, the person lost his turn. The free telephone service was available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., but lines started forming at 5 a.m. and the last calls were made after 9 p.m. Listening to the conversations was heart-breaking. One woman narrated the story of how she lost her husband and children. Another woman kept on repeating, “Food is so hard.” For 60 seconds all she could muster up to say was, “Food is so hard.” It was painful to hear their 60-second stories of tragedy, but the ability to share their stories gave them hope that soon help would arrive. The last caller of the day was Klaus. He called his sister in Norway. After his call, he invited me and my colleague to stay in his house.

Klaus Engesvoll and Rico Selga

Klaus came to the Philippines from Norway on a vacation many years ago. He never left. Eventually, he married Amy, with whom he has two children who speak four languages fluently. Klaus told me how his family and 60 other people were saved by hiding in the laundry room and garage of his house. He said that if the wind had blown for another hour, they too might not have survived–and that when they came out after the storm had passed, they did not know if anyone else had.

The day after the storm, Amy cooked all their food and shared it with their neighbors, a move typical of her and Klaus’s generosity. After knowing me for only a day, Klaus invited me to stay in his house, where he and his family shared their scant amount of relief goods, water, and food with me. This was uncomfortable for me because I was supposed to be there providing help to them. In the end, our team would not have been able to function without his hospitality and willingness to share everything with us.

Klaus and I spent 24 hours a day together, brainstorming and helping the people of Guiuan. We would go to bed at midnight and stare at the ceiling, waiting for daylight so we could start working again. I would get up from my cot at 5:30 in the morning to go to his room, where I would see him crammed in his bed with Amy and their children–his eyes open. He would turn to me, nod, and get up without waking his family.

Around us, everything was sopping wet. In the living room at least six of his neighbors slept on wet sofas. Some nights, there were three inches of water all over the house. His stairs looked like a waterfall with the rain coming down hard from the second floor, where the roof had been torn off by the storm. Debris filled his house. Mud and grass peppered the walls and ceiling.

The first priority of each day was to find water, food, medications, and gasoline. Without gas, we could not send Doctor Alan out to see the patients. Without water and food, we were finished. In a disaster-hit community it is difficult to find the most basic necessities. Klaus and I had to go around town scavenging from other international aid agencies and the local market. We also needed to find a tarpaulin to cover Klaus’s blown-off roof–with more volunteers arriving soon, we needed a place for them to stay.

Once, we spent the whole day just begging for one liter of gas–and got none. We spent countless hours networking at United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to procure gas and diesel. The diesel was important to keep our van moving. The van was by no means comfortable–it was missing a windshield and the engine had issues–but it was moving. I borrowed it from a neighbor on a handshake promise to pay him at a later date. This neighbor had three vans that at one point became shelter for 23 people.

Dr. Alan, far right yellow shirt.

On that same day, the first baby was born in a tent hospital run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The crowd in the OCHA meeting clapped in jubilation. We had also scored enough tarpaulin to cover our house and one clinic. The tarpaulin was a gift from International Organization for Migration (IOM) and MSF. On this same day we also received a water filter from Guiuan Disaster Relief Coordination (GDRC). We could now filter enough water for 100 people daily for five years. It was a happy day for the community and for our organization. Klaus and I celebrated with a drink of rum, but neither Klaus nor I slept well because we both knew there was more work to be done.

The next day the carpenters worked at a feverish pace to finish putting tarpaulin on Klaus’s house. It was a dangerous job because the tarpaulin was slippery and any mistake would send them falling from a two-story house. Meanwhile, thanks to neighbors, the inside of his house was miraculously cleaned of wood, metal, and glass debris in five days.

There were other signs of hope that day–and new challenges. For the first week after the storm, there was no food for sale in the market. Almost two weeks later, on the Thursday that Klaus’s house got covered, the markets began selling more varied food again. Disappointingly, the prices for that food skyrocketed as more international aid workers (aka “rich foreigners”) arrived. The day before, we had bought a kilo of potatoes for $1.50; now a kilo cost $3.50. This is an unintended side effect of the arrival of the relief agencies, one felt most keenly by the locals. The average salary of an unskilled laborer is about $5 per day. I paid the men fixing the roof about $5 per day. I paid the foreman about $9 per day. These people cannot afford a 300-percent increase in food costs.

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By Friday morning, we had welcomed 12 volunteer doctors, nurses, and paramedics. We were in full capacity to treat patients. Doctor Alan now had a complete team with him when he went out to the villages. Our team immediately went to work treating patients in Guiuan, Mercedes, and Salcedo. In one day, we were able to see more than 200 patients and provided them with essential medications.

My job with the ‘First In Team’ was finished. We had shelter, food, water, volunteers and clinics. This was good news, but my heart sank because it also meant that soon I would be sent back home. Klaus felt it too. He kept saying, “It will be strange without you, Rico.” For nearly two weeks, I had spent my days and nights with Klaus. He had an uncanny ability to make friends and get things done. I admired his strength and perseverance, growing to love him like a brother. I knew that he would give his life for me–as I would for him.

Before departing I asked Klaus, “What are you going to do after all of this is done?” He told me that he was not leaving, that Guiuan is forever his home. But then he added, “I do not know, Rico. For the first time in my life, I care only about others. I do not care what happens to me. I have never felt this way before. I will only leave if my children cannot go to school. If the schools are not rebuilt, I must return to Norway for my children.” I could see in his eyes that he is deeply worried. I felt guilty for leaving him and going home.

I believe in the power of dreams. It will triumph over adversity. Dreams have the power to transform despair into hope. Dreams keep us taking the next step forward. Dreams turn the impossible into reality. Today I dream of rebuilding a school. I have never rebuilt a school. This is a dream I cannot accomplish without help. I need a small miracle. Twenty-three years after evacuating my home in a US Air Force C-130 plane due to an earthquake, and after 13 years of volunteering in disaster-stricken and war-torn areas like Kosovo, Liberia, Uganda, and Haiti, I am needed now in the land of my bones, Philippines.

Photos: Rico and Jennifer Selga

Jon Raymond appears in the Columbia Writers Series on February 13. Photo: Courtesy of Jon Raymond/Justine Kurland

Clark College welcomes the award-winning fiction author and screenwriter Jon Raymond during the winter quarter installment of its renowned Columbia Writers Series.

Raymond, whose work has garnered both critical acclaim and prestigious awards, will read from some of his most recent works and speak about writing from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 13, in PUB 258C.

Raymond is the author of the novels The Half-Life (a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2004) and Rain Dragon (2012). His collection of stories, Livability, won the 2009 Oregon Book Award for Fiction. An accomplished screenwriter, Raymond’s credits include Old Joy, Meek’s Cutoff, Night Moves, and Wendy and Lucy, a movie based on the short story “Train Choir” from Livability. He earned an Emmy Award nomination for his work on the 2011 HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce. He lives in Portland with his family.

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.

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 137 in Clark’s Gaiser Hall.

Special Advisor for Diversity and Equity Sirius Bonner

Sirius Bonner, Clark College special advisor for diversity and equity, was presented with the Compass Award at the Urban Spark Collective’s fourth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast, held January 18 in Clark College’s Gaiser Student Center.

The Compass Award is given to an individual or organization that carves a new path for diversity and inclusion in education, in the workplace, or through community engagement. As Special Advisor for Diversity and Equity, Bonner advises and supports Clark College’s Executive Cabinet, College Council, Cultural Pluralism Committee and the entire college community. Since joining Clark in 2011, Bonner has introduced new programs to the college; brought a sharper focus to issues of power, privilege and inequity; overseen the opening of a new Diversity Center on the main campus; and expanded the number of opportunities for faculty, students, and staff to build their skills.

Bonner earned a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Before coming to Clark, she served as the Director of Multicultural Recruitment and the Multicultural Affairs Student Program Coordinator at Reed College and later as the Assistant Director of New Student Programs for Diversity Recruitment at Portland State University.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Breakfast is sponsored by a number of community organizations. The event is the brainchild of community activist Deena Pierott, who is the founder of diversity executive search firm Mosaic Blueprint. This year, the breakfast had a surprise guest: U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), who worked with Dr. King in the Civil Rights movement, spoke to the assembled guests. In her remarks upon accepting the Compass Award, Bonner said she was inspired by Rep. Lewis, noting that he had inspired her to “get into trouble” in the quest for equity for all people.

Vancouver Mayor and Clark alumnus Tim Leavitt presented the award to Bonner. The event keynote speaker was Dr. Alisha Moreland-Capuia, an Oregon native and psychiatrist at Oregon Health & Science University.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Professor Kathrena Halsinger discusses her work with a student at the opening of the Art Faculty Biennial.

Clark art faculty spend their time at the college fostering and honing their students’ creative skills. But what about their own creative work? At the Art Faculty Biennial in Archer Gallery, running through February 8, everyone has a chance to see what the college’s faculty produce when they’re not busy teaching.

Wind and Drive and SIX6JEWELS, archival prints by art instructor Mariana Tres.

The wide range of their creativity was on display during the show’s opening reception on January 14, as faculty, students, and other visitors gazed at works that ranged from painting to ceramics to multimedia installations.

“I think it’s a really diverse show, but everything still fits very well together,” said art professor Kathrena Halsinger as she stood in front of her own contribution, a linked collection of digital prints. It hung between sculpture instructor Beth Heron’s installation of aluminum and bright-blue glass and Marina Tres’ striking, large-format prints of old watch gears.

All Fall Down, multi-channel video by art professor Senseney Stokes.

Many visitors paused at length before Professor Senseney Stokes’ All Fall Down, in which a stack of vintage black-and-white televisions showed linked video footage of gravel falling through a tube that seemed to travel from one screen to the next. Stokes, who is on sabbatical to learn gallery management in preparation for becoming Archer Gallery’s new director, said that she collected many of the old televisions years ago from thrift stores or just off the side of the road, but that these days they’re almost impossible to find. “I had to get the rest off of eBay,” she said with a wry smile.

Left to right, art faculty members Gabriel Parque, Carson Legree, Lisa Conway, Senseney Stokes, Grant Hottle, and Kathrena Halsinger.

Art professor emeritus Carson Legree, who is currently serving as Archer Gallery’s director this academic year, said that the Art Faculty Biennial is different from other shows that the gallery hosts, which often feature works by prominent artists in the region and the country. “This show really is about the campus, and about the students, and about faculty members’ relationships with each other and with their students,” she explained. “I think it’s interesting for students, because they see we’re all still working artists, we’re all still trying new things.”

Kelsey Lavin sketches her professor’s work during the Art Faculty Biennial.

Student Kelsey Lavin confirmed Legree’s statement. “It’s inspiring to see more than one type of art, to see all the different styles,” she said, pausing for a moment in her sketches of Professor Lisa Conway’s ceramic flowers to point to instructor Ben Killen Rosenberg’s watercolors on a free-standing wall nearby. “I have always respected the faculty here, and this [show] just adds to that.”

Lavin, 23, has taken two art classes at Clark, and hopes to take more before her anticipated graduation in 2015. A first-generation college student, she is considering entering the college’s Associate of Fine Art degree program, with the end goal of becoming an art teacher and working artist herself.

Legree said that she hoped that everyone at the college–students, faculty, and staff–would visit the show. “It gives the rest of the college a chance to see our work,” she said. “We really do have a very strong and vibrant department.”

To see more images from the show visit our Flickr page.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

President Robert K. Knight pauses for a moment in his 2014 State of the College address.

At 80 years old, Clark College still has plenty to learn–that was the message Clark College President Robert K. Knight conveyed in his annual State of the College address.

Knight took a moment to acknowledge that the college was in the midst of celebrating its 80th anniversary, but then said that, rather than focusing on the past, “I have been … thinking about what steps we can continue to take to ensure that Clark College at 100 is the vibrant and important place that it is today.”

Knight said that he thought the college was “on the right path” in that respect, pointing to recent accomplishments such as a very successful accreditation visit by representatives of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, during which the commission acknowledged the improvements Clark has made in the area of shared governance.

Presidential Coin recipient and Automotive Technology professor Mike Godson, right, with Dick Hannah representative Gary Schuler. Godson and Schuler worked together to help create a partnership that allows aspiring automotive technicians to take classes at Clark College and work at Dick Hannah simultaneously.

Other recent accomplishments Knight noted included:

• Receiving funding for a new building on the main campus dedicated to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), scheduled to break ground in summer 2014;
• Recent state approval for a $35 million satellite location in northern Clark County at a site still to be determined;
• The success of the Clark College Foundation’s “Ensuring a Bright Future” fundraising campaign, which is predicted to reach its goal of $20 million in spring 2014;
• The introduction of a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Dental Hygiene, the first bachelor’s degree to be offered by the college;
• A statewide record in the number of online courses certified by Quality Matters;
• The opening of a Veterans Resource Center on the main campus to help the college’s estimated 800 student veterans;
• The continued development of a new Strategic Plan for the years 2015-2020;
• Clark’s leadership role in transitioning to ctcLink;
• New programs and opportunities for students to participate in cutting-edge learning in the automotive, aeronautics, and bioscience fields;
• National awards won by Phoenix, Clark’s journal of arts and literature;
• Increased enrollment in Clark’s Honors Program.

Knight acknowledged that Clark’s enrollment has decreased for the first time in recent years. “We expected that,” he said. “It’s a good thing, because it means that people are finding jobs. We expect enrollment to continue to go down a little bit.”

President Knight with Che’yna Shotwell. Shotwell, a junior at Mountain View High School, is part of the Penguin Promise partnership between Clark College and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington, which provides Clark College scholarships to those students who fulfill the program’s stringent academic requirements. She is on track to become the first student to receive such a scholarship from the program, which was announced at the 2013 State of the College address.

Knight explained that administration and staff were already discussing how to manage the college’s enrollment. “We have to determine what is the right size for Clark College,” he said. Then he added, “As we continue to be the most over-enrolled community college in Washington, we haven’t turned away students yet.”

Knight stressed that any decisions about the college’s future would need to be based on whether or not they helped students learn. “As long as I am president, we will never forget that the student comes first and is the only reason we have a job and the only reason we’re here,” he said.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

See more photos on our Flickr page.

View the entire speech on CVTV.

A student gets assistance during an annual open house event for Running Start students that’s held at the Clark College Bookstore during the start of each fall quarter.

High school sophomores and juniors can learn how to take the next step in their education by attending one of two optional Running Start Information Night sessions at Clark College.

The identical sessions will be held 7:00-8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22, and Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in the Clark College gymnasium in the O’Connell Sports Center, located on the southwest corner of Clark College’s main campus.

Running Start allows eligible juniors and seniors to earn college credit while they fulfill their high school graduation requirements. Running Start students attend Clark classes along with “regular” college students. They can choose from a full range of academic and professional/technical courses as long as the students meet the criteria and the classes are college-level.

The program, which can significantly reduce the cost of a four-year college degree, has proven popular in Southwest Washington. Some Running Start students are so motivated that they earn their associate degree from Clark at the same time that they earn their high school diploma. According to Associate Director of Running Start Linda Calvert, these annual information nights frequently attract hundreds of interested students and parents to the college, which is why the college hosts two sessions. In fall 2013, Clark College welcomed 1,904 Running Start students, surpassing all other Running Start enrollments in the state community college system.

Associate Director of Running Start Linda Calvert, far left, supplying information to students at the Bookstore’s Running Start Open House in 2012.

These information sessions are for students and parents who want to know more about beginning the program in fall 2014. Calvert explained, “These optional sessions provide a great chance to hear current Running Start students candidly describe their experiences in the program. You’ll also hear about the eligibility criteria, testing procedures, deadlines, and more.”

Running Start students pay for books, transportation, and some fees, but do not pay full Clark College tuition. Students can be part-time or full-time in Running Start. Fees are subject to change by the Washington State Legislature. Fee waivers and limited textbook assistance are available for those demonstrating financial need.

Linda Calvert noted, “Running Start is not for everyone. It requires not only college-level skills, but also college-level maturity. Successful program participants are generally self-motivated and looking for additional academic challenges. Students frequently tell us that they like the learning environment at the college and the ability to gradually sample the college environment.”

Clark College is located at 1933 Fort Vancouver Way in Vancouver, Wash. Parking will be available in the college’s red lots on the east side of Fort Vancouver Way and in the purple lot on the west side of Fort Vancouver Way. 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 should contact Clark College’s Disability Support Services Office at 360-992-2314 or 360-991-0901 (VP), or visit Gaiser Hall Room 137 two weeks in advance of the events.

For information about Running Start Information Nights, call 360-992-2366.

“Abu Ghraib” sculpture by Rex Silvernail

Clark College’s Art Selection Committee recently honored the legacies of two local artists by placing their work in Cannell Library.

In fall 2012, friends of the late Rex Silvernail approached Clark College about receiving one or more of his artworks. Silvernail, an accomplished sculptor, had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and wanted to ensure that his art would be kept available to the public after his death. Clark is among many institutions that stepped forward to house his work; others include the Portland Art Museum, Hallie Ford Museum, Maryhill Museum, Fort Vancouver Historic Reserve, and the Fort Vancouver Regional Library.

Silvernail was born in Tacoma, Wash. He earned his MFA from Northern Illinois University and later received a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the Kitanmax School of Northwest Coast Indian Art–the first non-Native person to do so–where he learned traditional methods for manipulating wood. He became known for an artistic style that blended contemporary Western techniques with ancient traditions of craftsmanship, creating works that emphasized his interest in environmentalism and world peace.

“Shilo” wood and paper sculpture
by Rex Silvernail

Silvernail died in April 2013. By then the Art Selection Committee had already begun the process of accepting and placing two of his works: Shilo and Abu Ghraib. The former is a joyous piece made in honor of Silvernail’s granddaughter; the latter has been called “one of his strongest anti-war statements.” Together, they provide a cogent summary of Silvernail’s breadth of subject matter as an artist.

“We chose to place the pieces where they would have maximum visual impact and viewing accessibility,” said Art Selection Committee member and art professor Lisa Conway. “We wanted a space that would enhance the dimensional qualities of these unique pieces, and allow for them to be really set apart from, yet showcased within, their surroundings. After months of considering various sites across our campuses, the committee chose the library location. Cannell Library continues to be a great place to view art on campus.”

The third piece placed in Cannell is a large bronze casting plaque known as “The Lincoln Medallion.” It depicts a young Abraham Lincoln sitting beneath a tree, reading a book, with the inscription “I will study to prepare myself and maybe someday my chance will come.” It was made by George B. Clausen, the father of recently retired business technology professor John Clausen. The younger Clausen, together with his sister, Grace Sorensen, donated the piece to the college in memory of their parents.

Bronze casting plaque of Abraham Lincoln by George B. Clausen, donated by retired business technology professor John Clausen and his sister, Grace Sorensen

George Clausen was, like Lincoln, a self-taught man. He quit high school in order to support his family when his own father became ill, teaching himself the trade of architectural drafting. He also taught himself bronze casting; his works were housed in, among other places, the Oregon State Capitol and the Vista House. In 1937, when he created the mold for the Lincoln Medallion, he was working at the Portland Art Museum.

John Clausen and his sister wanted their father’s medallion to be placed at Clark College–and specifically in Cannell–because of its theme of education and reading.

These three pieces are just the most recent to be sited by the Art Selection Committee, which is responsible for selecting art through the Washington State Arts Commission Art in Public Places Program. This program facilitates the acquisition, placement, and stewardship of artwork in state-funded building projects. One-half of one percent for art funds is generated by new construction projects in state agencies, community colleges, universities, and public schools. Local committees representing project sites make all final artwork selection decisions.

In addition, the Art Selection Committee is responsible for acceptance and location of donated art objects, markers and monuments (other than instruction/gallery items) and the purchase and location of art objects acquired through means other than the Art in Public Places Program. The committee monitors and makes decisions regarding the maintenance and care of all college art objects.

Currently, the college’s art collection includes almost 300 artworks in media as varied as metal sculpture, painting, line drawing, and textiles.