Have questions about COVID-19 and vaccinations? Biology professor Steven Clark created an informative video lecture on the virus, vaccines, and immunity. Watch until the end to catch a question-and-answer session conducted with Clark College employees who attended Professor Clark’s Zoom seminar.
UPDATE: This event was canceled due to low enrollment.
Clark College, WPEA and CCAHE are holding a vaccination clinic on Wednesday, September 1 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Clark College in the STEM Building. Sign up for an appointment here.
Rite Aid will be providing the first dose of the Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine.
On August 18, Governor Inslee announced a mandate requiring all educators, including higher education workers, be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 18, 2021. This mandate applies to all higher education workers whether working remotely or in person, and whether part-time temporary or full-time. It also applies to student workers.
In order to be fully vaccinated, people need to receive two doses of the Moderna vaccine spaced weeks apart. The second-dose vaccination clinic will be held on Wednesday, September 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
This event is free. You do not have to pay for the vaccine. The event is being held for Clark College employees and students, but other members of the public are welcome to make appointments as well.
For more information contact CCAHE President Suzanne Southerland at ssoutherland@clark.edu.
Clark College announced today its plans for fall term and the first phase of its return to on-site operations.
Earlier today, President Karin Edwards announced the following:
In spring term, the college announced that roughly one-third of its fall classes would have an on-campus component.
The college’s decisions follow guidance from Gov. Jay Inslee’s proclamation covering higher education, which was issued on June 30 and revised on July 12. They also incorporate feedback from the college’s staff and faculty unions, student government, and interdepartmental planning groups focused on the college’s recovery and return to on-site operations.
“Our students and our employees need to know the college’s way forward in order to plan for the future,” said Dr. Edwards. “At the same time, we need to remain ready to adapt to the ever-evolving realities of this pandemic and its effects. We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and provide information about fall term as we further develop our plans–always with a focus on equity, access, and the safety of our whole community.”
Additional information about the college’s decisions for fall term can be found at www.clark.edu/covid-19.
Last week Clark College published its 2021 fall class schedule, which includes more than 500 classes with on-campus components. This is a major step by the college—which has been in remote operations since March 2020—to safely return to campus this fall.
“This is an exciting moment for the college, as we prepare to safely welcome large numbers of students and employees back to a campus that has been too quiet for far too long,” said Clark College President Karin Edwards. “At the same time, it’s important to understand that we are not making this decision rashly. We will continue to follow the guidance of our state and local public health agencies to ensure that this return is done with everyone’s safety in mind.”
Fall term begins Monday, September 20. The fall schedule is released early to give students ample time to consider their options and sign up for classes. Registration for both summer and fall terms opens on May 10.
Currently, about one-third of Clark’s fall classes will be in-person—a much lower percentage than during pre-pandemic times, but much higher than the handful of lab classes that were being taught on campus during the 2020-2021 academic year. More classes may be added over the next several months as the college closely monitors the COVID-19 pandemic response.
“Our faculty are excited to get back to in-person instruction in the fall, but are prepared to roll their classes back into online delivery if the COVID landscape changes,” said Interim Vice President of Instruction Genevieve Howard.
Some of the fall in-person classes will be hybrid classes—in other words, taught partially in a classroom and partially online. This allows students to have a chance to get the hands-on learning that Clark College is known for, while still limiting the amount of people on campus at any given time. Other classes will be “web-enhanced”—taught in person, but with online materials or activities to read or complete online. Still other classes will be taught fully in person. Students can search for in-person, hybrid, and web-enhanced classes on CTCLink, the state’s online software system.
The college is also developing plans for some support services to return to campus as well, while retaining the virtual help center that has operated throughout the pandemic. The college has already announced its plans to bring back athletic competition in the fall; athletic practice returned to campus in spring term. An announcement has also been made that the 2021 Commencement ceremony will be held in person on June 17, though with restrictions on how many people may attend.
The college is working to ensure its infrastructure and equipment meet its needs for re-opening the college safely. Visitors may need to use safety precautions like hand sanitizing, face coverings, and health screenings in order to participate in on-campus activities. Details will be announced closer to fall term.
The college is taking care to include student voices in its decision-making process, sending out a survey to all current students this past week to get their input on what services and supports are most important to them. The survey results will help inform the college in planning for fall.
“We will center the students in all our planning,” said Michele Cruse, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs. “Their voice is vitally important as we begin this slow and gradual process of returning to campus.”
This article was updated on June 22 to reflect the increased number of in-person classes being offered in fall.
A surge in COVID-19 cases paused Clark College’s programs at Larch Corrections Center in early January. The minimum-security prison had its first positive COVID-19 test in late December. Only a week later, 218 of those incarcerated —about 70 percent of the prison’s residency—had tested positive for COVID.
An immediate shutdown meant Clark College programs came to a halt. The classroom building was closed. All face-to-face classes were canceled.
“With COVID restrictions, everybody in the education field propelled forward into new methods with online learning, but corrections education took a few steps backward,” said Hanan Al-Zubaidy, Clark’s Director of Education at Larch Corrections.
For security reasons, Larch residents do not have access to the internet, so online education is not an option.
Al-Zubaidy said, “With our classroom closed, we had to figure out a new way.”
As it turned out, the new way was an old way.
“We came up with a game plan for getting coursework materials to students until they can return to the classroom,” Al-Zubaidy said.
She and Clark instructors —Justin Allen, Lauren Zavrel, Steven Smith and Ron Powers—stepped up to provide educational care packages to those who are enrolled in Clark programs at Larch. They filled backpacks with textbooks, packets of assignments and reading materials, paper, pens and pencils—everything students need to do their work.
They distributed the backpacks with books at the beginning of the quarter. Students work on their Clark projects in their living units and return their completed work in a collection box. Assignments are collected weekly. The assignments are critical to keeping students engaged so they can get back on track once classrooms are open again.
Clark College offers business, GED, and High School Plus (a high school credit-recovery program) courses at Larch Corrections Center. While the classroom facility is closed, students cannot take the GED test, but they can work on recovering high school credits.
Typically, 175 Larch students are enrolled at Clark per quarter, but with COVID social distancing restrictions and rapid releases shortly after the pandemic began, only 68 students are enrolled winter quarter.
Al-Zubaidy, the instructors and staff are working remotely from their homes, but they drive to Larch twice a week to drop off packets of course assignments for students. Located in the remote Cascade foothills in the far east of Clark County, Larch Corrections center is 22 miles—about a 40-minute drive–from Clark College’s main campus.
Sometimes instructors and staff go into the living units to drop off the material. If there are many COVID cases, they dress in PPE or the corrections staff distributes the educational material to students. Due to the number of active COVID cases, when students’ completed papers are picked up, Al-Zubaidy sprays papers with a cleaning solution and leaves them in the classroom for two days before instructors can handle them.
During the COVID lockdown, students who have questions about a particular assignment can message their instructors via an offline messaging system called a kiosk, which Al-Zubaidy described as like a computer, but without internet access. Students also can request tutoring help from a trained tutor if one is living on their floor. (The residents are confined to their own floor.) These paid tutors are also residents at Larch. Some tutors also are Clark students.
Al-Zubaidy said, “We wish we could have a tutor on every single floor, because they are in the units with our students when we can’t be there during COVID.”
She spoke about the Larch students having to adapt to frequent changes in their housing units during the pandemic and dealing with additional stress from not knowing what is expected of them.
“Our students have been very patient. To help reduce their stress, we’ve been flexible with assignment due dates. It’s important we do what we can do to ease some of that frustration.”
Al-Zubaidy was the re-entry navigator at Larch before becoming the program director in September. The Clark team at Larch does significant reentry work to prepare students for continuing their education after they are released. They set students up with meetings with colleges across the state. During the lockdown, Al-Zubaidy has been dropping off FAFSA forms and college applications for students.
Because there is no guidebook for running educational programs in a prison during a global pandemic, Al-Zubaidy, the Clark faculty and staff have had to problem-solve each time a new roadblock arises. The deans and directors of all corrections facilities across the state meet weekly via Zoom to share ideas and best practices in corrections education during the pandemic.
Al-Zubaidy said, “It’s helpful to be able to bounce ideas off other directors and ask: ‘What did you do in this situation? What worked for you?’ This group makes me feel supported for all that’s going on.”
This was the first backpack drop for Clark students at Larch Corrections Center, but it won’t be the last. Al-Zubaidy said although it was a lot of work for her team to put together backpacks and folders with student materials and to distribute packets throughout the quarter, it was important to do.
She said, “Students were yelling through their windows asking us if we were finally bringing their assignments. One student saw our basic skills instructor through the window and began asking how he could turn in his homework and if he could get more assignments to work on while in lockdown. Providing our students with material keeps them on track in their programs, gives them something to do to fill their time, and provides a sense of normalcy during these challenging times.”
Al-Zubaidy’s team isn’t done innovating: Clark College is expanding its educational offerings at Larch to include a degree program in Supervisory Management.
Armetta Burney, Interim Dean of WPTE & STEM, said, “I appreciate our faculty and staff’s leadership and the extraordinary commitment they have demonstrated to support our students at Larch. They have come up with creative solutions. They are deeply invested in our students at Larch.”
Being a college student during the COVID-19 pandemic can be tricky enough, but it becomes exponentially more challenging when you’re also taking care of young children whose school or child care facility has been closed or moved online.
About a quarter of Clark College students have dependent children. Many of these parent students have found themselves trying to manage their own studies while also serving as teacher’s aide for their children.
Clark 24/7 interviewed some of these parent students to find out how they are coping. We also spoke with Michele Volk, director of the college’s Child and Family Studies child care center, which has remained open during the pandemic to serve parent students and their families. Their responses, edited for clarity and brevity, are in the links below.
Note: These interviews were conducted in late 2020, when public schools in the region were still operating remotely. In the time since, some schools have partially re-opened.
Monserrat Soriano is a full-time Clark College student on track to complete the Administrative Assistant and Management program in Spring 2021. She’s also a single mom to daughter, Melody, 7, in first grade at Martin Luther King Elementary; and son, Emmett, 4, who attends the college’s Child and Family Studies child care program. During the COVID-19 pandemic, both kids have attended CFS so that Soriano can study at home. Soriano and her children live with her mother, uncle and brother, but none can help with childcare.
This story is part of a series of interviews with Clark College student parents about how they are balancing school, life, and work, during quarantine.
Q: How has CFS helped you focus on your schoolwork?
MS: After my daughter completes two hours of online school via Zoom each day, I take both kids to the childcare center at Clark. Then I come home and do my schoolwork. I’m grateful that the state has paid for childcare during COVID. Fall quarter was the first quarter I’ve had childcare, because my daughter’s previous childcare center shut down during COVID.
Q: How are your children coping with doing remote school at home?
MS: When we pick up my daughter’s school work packets at King Elementary, she doesn’t understand why she can’t be in school with her teacher and other kids. She asked me why she is in daycare instead of school.
Q: What are some challenges you’ve faced during COVID?
MS: I’m a first-generation college student. Sometimes it feels like I’m breaking through walls. When I’m working at home, my family sees me struggling. My mom wants to help with the kids, but she’s working two jobs. We all need compassion right now. And grace! When I’m home with my kids, I want to distract myself. I’ve been sober for almost a year. My testimony is of struggle. Clark needs students like me. I am resilient.
Before COVID, my degree was part of a teach-out program [a process in which a program that is being discontinued teaches the students who are part-way through the degree program]. Then because of COVID, our labs were removed. It adds so much anxiety and pressure. It’s been hard to stay motivated. With COVID, I can’t plan. I don’t know what my next step is. Sometimes I feel that I can’t make it. I come into the childcare center crying. I leave crying. That’s how I’m coping. I’m going week by week with the kids.
Q: What’s one particularly challenging story of taking remote classes while juggling parenting?
MS: Last quarter I thought I was going to give up. When I was taking my final via Zoom, my three-year old burst in and shouted, “I have to poop, Mom!” My instructor heard him and gave me more time to complete my final. This is not the way it’s supposed to happen, but that’s all we got. We have to keep going. We have to keep our sanity.
Q: How are you coping?
MS: I attend Zoom counseling workshops with other parents, so I don’t feel like I’m not alone. I learned to give myself some slack. Be gentle with myself as a parent. It’s OK to cry in front of my children sometimes. This is not normal times. I’m trying to relax when I can, but I don’t even know what that looks like.
When COVID-19 restrictions moved learning online for all K-12 and college students in the state in March 2020, Clark’s Child and Family Studies (CFS) kept its doors open to fill a vital role of providing childcare to families of essential workers and Clark students, as well as providing jobs for Clark students.
Clark 24/7 interviewed CFS Director Michele Volk to find out how her team has been safely serving families during the pandemic. “It’s been a journey,” she said. “We’ve received such positive feedback from our student families about the difference it makes having a community there for their children. … By caring for the children of Clark students, CFS is equipping our students to do their own schoolwork and be successful.”
Throughout the months of pandemic lockdown, CFS remained open—and welcomed school-age learners, too. It’s been a learning process for all involved, as the edited interview below proves.
Q: Did CFS operate during spring term when pandemic restrictions first were enacted?
MV: Yes. Throughout the pandemic we remained open for essential workers as defined by Washington State. We erred on the side of caution as guidance changed frequently.
Q: How has CFS adapted to continue operating during COVID restrictions?
MV: CFS has adapted to COVID by continual monitoring of the recommendations, guidance and mandates of licensing, Washington Department of Health, CDC, Clark County, and Clark College. We are following safety protocols and best practices. Here are some of ways we adapted:
Q: How many children are attending CFS during the pandemic?
MV: Pre-pandemic during fall quarter 2019, we had 128 children enrolled at CFS. In contrast, the 2020 numbers during the pandemic are a fraction of our earlier enrollment: summer break, 41 children; summer quarter, 47; fall quarter, 71; winter quarter, 69.
Q: What have been some of the biggest challenges of operating CFS during COVID?
MV: One challenge has been battling the emotional fatigue of the staff and families. Their stress levels have been high, yet they have continued to be present for the community. It’s been difficult missing all in-person family gatherings, community meetings, and the in-person collaboration of a full program. It has been both challenging and touching to see how remote instruction has adapted for ECE lab and Family Life credit. People are finding unique ways to build relationships through Zoom, examining practices, videotaping and sharing of resources to meet outcomes. Despite the decreased enrollment and ratios, stable classroom groups and increased costs, we are committed to keeping everyone employed and engaged.
Q: What are some highlights–some uplifting, heartwarming moments at CFS during COVID?
MV: Hearing family stories has really touched my heart—knowing we have contributed to student retention and success. Having families grateful for our services so they can continue or return to work. Families have stopped by the front desk and expressed their gratitude for being able to either go to school or go to work to provide for their family during this time. Some have brought teachers and office staff flowers and treats.
Q: Are there any positive elements to the children’s experience?
MV: It was heartwarming to see children coming back after time away—to see them reunite with their peers and teachers. Seeing children run to be together. School–age children have been reunited with their peers, with whom they attended toddlers’ class or preschool.
With fewer children, it seems children are working longer on projects and working more together. The learning stories feel deeper, more connected. Teachers have more time to observe, document, and expand children’s learning. Families have been connected in these moments and connected us to home. This has become a very connected community.
Q: How has your staff stepped up to the plate throughout the pandemic?
MV: Our staff are the true heroes. Throughout the pandemic, they have been present to care for others, even as their own worlds are impacted. The way the teachers, office staff, and ECE faculty have respectfully altered their own lives, dug into deeper practice, meeting children and families where they are, the commitment and collaboration with one another and to safely keep children at the heart of their work–that’s inspiring!
Q: How have Clark’s CFS student employees made an impact during the pandemic?
MV: For many of those families, that part-time position at CFS also allows the family to have some stability financially. Those same student employees provide continuity for our children in our classroom. The sense of the routine and continuity for everyone in the community has been exceptional. I believe these children are resilient because of the model of the adults—both their family members and staff—who surround them and keep those consistent routines. These adults revel in the joy with the children. That’s made the difference.
Q: How many Clark students currently are employed at CFS?
MV: It has ranged each term between 19 and 25. We are currently hiring for several positions in both classroom and office, for those who have interest.
Q: How has the Clark community supported CFS through this challenging time?
MV: I so appreciate the larger Clark College community and their contributions to making this successful: Emergency Management Team; Facilities Services and the custodial team; Culinary and the treats for our staff and families; the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion’s equitable decision-making and connecting students to one another; Communications and Marketing for supporting our communications to parents; Instruction and the creativity they have shown; Student Affairs’ weekly tips and resources. So many more.
Q: Going forward, do you see some COVID precautions continuing with CFS?
MV: Yes. Post-COVID we will continue with hand-washing, increased sanitizing, and face masks will continue as long as guidance recommends. Pre-COVID we already were doing many of the recommended safety precautions, but we increased the frequency. After COVID we will continue having families wash their hands in the office before entering the program. We plan to continue the sanitizing of the office spaces and commonly touched areas. Clark’s Facilities staff have been helpful and responsive. We appreciate them.
Q: Will CFS continue its school-age children classroom after public schools open their doors to in-person learning later this month?
MV: Yes, we are working with families to make schedule changes to their CFS attendance days to meet their public school-schedule needs. We made a commitment to our children and families for the full school year. They have experienced so much change, and we are here as one of their few support systems.
Q: How do Clark students register to use CFS? Is there a waiting list? Are drop-ins welcome?
MV: We have limited spaces available. Families can check availability in their child’s age group by emailing cfs@clark.edu or calling 360-992-2393. If we have no current availability, the family will be asked if they would want to complete an interest form. We prioritize our student families when placing new families. We do not have drop-in care available but operate on stable and consistent groups for best practice in early learning.
When COVID-19 switched Clark College’s spring quarter classes from on-campus to online learning, Welding Technologies students were ahead of the curve—and therefore were not as affected as other programs with hands-on labs. Instructor John Kuhn already had pivoted to the hybrid model of classes (part online and part in-person) via an online Canvas shell during summer 2019. At the time, it was a good way for students to complete the bookwork portion of their course. During COVID, it has allowed students to not fall too far behind, because they’d already been working online.
“We were pretty fortunate to have gotten started a year before with hybrid,” says Kuhn. “It gave students an opportunity to study more in depth at home. We got a little deeper into theory, the bookwork, utilizing more YouTube welding videos. It proved effectively that they understood the information.”
Because safety is paramount, students in the Welding 102 introductory class must pass a welding safety test with 100 percent. In the past, some students had to retake the test in order to pass. Hybrid learning increased students’ understanding of the material and translated into a higher percentage of students who didn’t have to take the test a second time.
Welding students returned to campus labs in mid-June to complete their spring quarter practical welding assignments. Because Welding is a year-round program, the students returned for hands-on welding labs during summer quarter, too.
Even before COVID, welding students already were wearing personal protective equipment and were socially distanced. Students suit up for every lab class: heavy, flame-retardant coat; steel-toed work boots with a metal plate added to protect feet; leather gloves; goggles; and a welding helmet with built-in face shield. Students work in individual welding booths, far removed from other students.
We visited the welding lab as six first-year students were finishing their class project: a flange, a small version of the pressure vessel built by second-year students. Pressure vessels are used to store and transfer liquids and gases under high pressure. Welding on pressure vessels must be exact and meet rigorous standards to withstand working conditions.
All the students we spoke with were eager to enter their chosen field. The outlook is promising: The number of welding jobs in Washington is projected to grow about 3 percent from 2019-2029, about average for all occupations, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the Vancouver-Portland metro area, the average wage for a welder is $23.98 per hour or $49,887 annually. That’s about $8,000 higher than the median wage nationally.
Jessica Pellham, 26, had no welding experience—and even lacked any experience with tools—when she started the Welding program in fall 2019.
“I kind of started out as a baby,” Pellham laughs. “I wanted to get into a trade. I tried machining. It wasn’t my thing. Then I watched my fiancé’s grandpa welding.”
It intrigued her. She tried welding, and she discovered she had an aptitude for it.
Pellham says, “It’s hard, physical work, but for me, it’s so worth it to do something I love to do.”
“She has excelled fantastically,” says Kuhn.
Pellham works fulltime at a packing warehouse and goes to Clark fulltime, too. When her cohort began, she was one of three women. Now, a year later, she’s the only woman left in her cohort, but there are more women in the second-year cohort.
“I’m hoping to see more women in trades,” she says. “We can do it, too.”
Pellham’s eventual goal is to be hired on a union or government job.
She adds, “I’d love to weld on submarines or ships.”
At 60, Jeff White of Washougal is the oldest student in the cohort. Two years ago, he was laid off from his job as a boiler operator at Georgia Pacific in Camas, a job he’d held for 30 years. White qualified for the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, a federal program to retrain displaced workers due to overseas competition. The program has paid for all his college expenses. He is living on unemployment while he attends Clark.
White’s goal is a job in construction welding. He is a fourth-generation Washougal resident, and hopes he does not have to move to find work after he completes the program.
Ben Barton, 29, has worked in restaurants since he was 16. A year ago, when he was working as a server at La Bottega in Uptown Village, he was considering making a career change when a co-worker told him about Clark’s welding program.
“I was ready to do something that was stable,” Barton says.
He researched the welding program and applied in summer 2019, but the fall cohort was full. There was so much interest that a second section was opened beginning winter 2020. He started the welding program full-time in January while he continued working at the restaurant 30 hours a week. Then COVID-19 closed restaurants in March, and he was laid off. To make up for the lost income, he applied for unemployment benefits.
“I’m thankful for unemployment,” Barton says. “I’m going to school to further myself so hopefully I’ll never have to be on unemployment again. Financially I’ve been okay. Obviously, you cut back your spending and you end up making your own meals again. Groceries are cheaper than eating out. My girlfriend and I are both in the restaurant industry and are good cooks.”
During spring quarter no hands-on labs were offered at Clark. Students kept up with their online bookwork, but they could not get into the labs to practice what they were learning.
“I was really thankful that Clark opened our shop back up for us,” he says. “The welders out there working in the industry are still working during COVID. I was at a stalemate. In limbo. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t do my welding [studies] to further my career.”
“I was one of the few COVID affected positively,” Barton says. “I was juggling school and working. Now I can focus on school.”
Visit www.clark.edu/cc/welding to learn more about the Welding Technologies program.
For 51 years, Clark College’s dental hygiene clinic provided affordable dental service to the community—until the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to close in spring term. Now, thanks to careful planning by the college’s dental hygiene program, the Firstenburg Dental Hygiene Education and Care Services is back open to serve the community and train the next generation of dental caregivers.
The clinic is a win-win for both the community and the students.
“It’s a two-way street,” says Program Director Kristi Taylor. “We’re helping the community, but they’re helping the students gain real-world experience. We’ve set up our clinic so students have the feel of a private practice. Our goal when students leave here is to be prepared to walk into a private practice. They are very job-ready.”
Before the clinic could reopen, Taylor and instructors scrambled to adapt the lab classes and clinic to meet safety guidelines prescribed by the Centers for Disease Control, Washington State Department of Health, and American Dental Association to protect students, staff and patients.
“It’s a lot of changes across the dental and medical fields,” says Taylor.
The program was helped by the fact that many safety procedures were already in place. Even before the pandemic, students and instructors wore face masks in the clinic when working directly with patients. Frequent handwashing and wearing gloves were also standard.
“We have always been very conscious of infection control,” Taylor says.
Since COVID-19, the program has implemented these new safety measures:
“These precautions are probably long overdue,” Taylor says. “I think we’ll see many of these safety measures remain [after COVID-19].”
Students were assigned patients to call and explain the safety protocols put in place. Some patients chose not to come into the clinic during the pandemic.
A dentist oversees every clinic session. On this day Dr. Eugene Sakai, retired from his own dental practice, is on site to examine patients and diagnose issues, do soft-tissue exams, and look for disease.
Dr. Sakai says, “COVID is changing things a lot.”
CDC guidelines recommend that people maintain six feet distance from others.
“We cannot do our work from six feet away,” Taylor says. “A lot of active hygienists have decided to retire due to COVID.”
As a result, Taylor says, the industry is short of hygienists. This is good news for Clark’s student hygienists.
Public health restrictions meant instructors and students worked remotely Spring quarter. Before COVID-19, students had all face-to-face classes, except for one online class per quarter. It took team effort to adapt Spring classes for remote learning. By moving the didactic portion into spring and the labs/clinics into summer, instructors didn’t have to create many instruction videos.
Dental hygiene students who were scheduled to graduate Spring term had missed an entire quarter of crucial hands-on instruction, both in the lab and working with patients in the clinic. Taylor and her team got to work figuring out how to schedule clinical hours for all students while also observing the social distancing protocols that reduced the number of students allowed to work simultaneously and the number of patients allowed in the clinic.
By the time dental hygiene students returned to campus on June 21, all the lead instructors had put together a plan for their respective clinics.
“We all worked together to create the overall schedule of courses that included all the labs and clinics they had missed in the spring,” Taylor says.
Then all the plans were compiled onto a detailed, color-coded schedule to ensure all students completed their required hours for labs including local anesthesia, nitrous oxide, radiology, cleaning and clinic. Implementing social distancing while compressing all the labs and clinical experience into the shorter summer schedule has required most students and faculty to work six-day weeks, and to sometimes work Sunday too.
“This summer has been full of catching all the students up on their hands-on skills,” Taylor says.
“It’s been really hard on the students,” adds instructor Amy Johnson.
The Bachelor of Applied Science in dental hygiene is a four-year degree. The dental portion takes two years to complete. Each year about 100 potential students from as far away as Seattle and California apply for the program’s 25 slots.
“Students can come to Clark, pay a much lower tuition [than at a four-year university], and get the same training,” Taylor says.
Seniors will graduate at the end of August after completing their hands-on clinics.
Taylor says some students already have jobs waiting as soon as they pass their six clinical boards and get their license to practice.
“In recent years, all of our students have found jobs,” Taylor says. “I get four to six phone calls a week from dental offices looking for hygienists. I’m extremely happy we could return to the lab.”
Clark’s dental hygiene clinic is open to the public and offers affordable dental care to adults and children. To schedule an appointment, call 360-992-2158. Learn more at www.clark.edu/dentalhygiene.