Chinook tribal elder Sam Robinson and Clark student Channa Smith perform a blessing song to welcome the Native Voices exhibition to Clark College.

On February 9, Cannell Library was briefly filled with the sound of drumming and singing during the opening ceremony for “Native Voices,” a traveling exhibition examining Native American concepts of health and medicine that will be on display in the library through March 16.

“It’s an honor to be here today,” said Chinook tribal elder and Clark alumnus Sam Robinson before he began a blessing ceremony for the event. “There are a lot different kinds of healing among our people, and there’s a lot of healing needed in our community.”

Librarian Laura Nagel, Dean of Libraries and Academic Success Services Michelle Bagley, Enrollment Services Program Coordinator Anna Schmasow, Chinook tribal elder and Clark alumnus Sam Robinson, and Interim Director of the Office of Diversity and Equity Felis Peralta.

“Native Voices” is produced by the National Library of Medicine in conjunction with the American Library Association. Clark College Libraries were selected as one of about 100 sites to host the exhibition during 2016-2020, and is the first to do so in the Pacific Northwest.

The exhibition examines concepts of health and medicine among contemporary American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians. It features interviews and works from Native people living on reservations, in tribal villages, and in cities. Topics include: Native views of land, food, community, earth/nature, and spirituality as they relate to Native health; the relationship between traditional healing and Western medicine in Native communities; economic and cultural issues that affect the health of Native communities; efforts by Native communities to improve health conditions; and the role of Native Americans in military service and healing support for returning Native veterans.

Host sites are encouraged to incorporate additional materials and events into the exhibition, and Clark College Libraries has connected with several other departments and organizations—including the Chinook Nation, Clark County Historical Museum, the Clark College Office of Diversity and Equity, Archer Gallery, and Clark College Student Life—to create an impressive roster of events supporting the exhibition. These include:

• Tuesday, February 9, noon: Opening Ceremony featuring a blessing with drummers. Cannell Library
• Tuesday, February 16, 11:30 a.m.: Student of Color Luncheon with the artists of One November Morning, an exhibit about the Sand Creek Massacre hosted by the Clark County Historical Museum. Also featuring the awarding of the first Dreamcatcher Scholarship for Native American students at Clark College. PUB 161
• Thursday, February 17, 2:00 p.m.: “Earth-Based Mentoring through Grief,” a presentation from Tony Ten Fingers of the Oglala Lakota. GHL 213
• Friday, February 19, 2:00 p.m.: Documentary on One November Morning sponsored by the Native American Culture Club of Clark College. Foster Auditorium
• Wednesday, February 24, 12:15 p.m.: This week’s half-hour “30 Clicks” presentation covers the connections between wellness, illness, and cultural life. LIB 103
• Friday, March 4, 5:00 p.m.: Art Walk between Cannell Library, Archer Gallery, and Clark County Historical Museum
• Wednesday, March 9, noon: Closing ceremonies. Cannell Library

“We’ve mentioned over and over how well it fits together having all these events happening at the same time,” said librarian Laura Nagel, who helped to organize Clark’s hosting of Native Voices. “The stars really aligned for this.”

See more photos from the opening ceremony here.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Professor Veronica Brock

“This is where I grew up,” says Professor Veronica Brock from her office in O’Connell Sports Complex on Clark’s main campus. “My dad was a professor here, teaching physics and astronomy. I was a student here. I grew up with ‘Penguin blood,’ as we like to say.”

Brock, who recently marked 20 years of teaching at Clark, didn’t intend to follow in her father’s footsteps. After graduating from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania with a Master of Science degree in cardiac rehabilitation and primary prevention, she remained on the East Coast working in cardiac rehabilitation. But gradually she began to realize that she didn’t love the clinical aspects of her work as much as she did teaching patients about their health.

“I’ve always just followed my heart when it came to career and jobs,” Brock says. “Every job I got, I’d say, ‘Oh, I like this aspect of the job—let’s do more of that.’ When I worked in cardiac rehab, I realized my favorite part of my job was the educational element.”

Brock began teaching health and physical education, and when she decided to move back to the Pacific Northwest, taking a position at Clark seemed like a natural fit. “It was a good match for my heart, with this job’s teaching and learning focus,” she says. “And I love the idea that, as an open enrollment institution, we provide an opportunity to everybody. That’s such a cool idea: If you want an education, you can get an education.”

Brock—who teaches health, physical education, fitness trainer, and health and physical education classes—says she loves seeing the changes her students make as they learn to develop new approaches toward their own health.

“In our curriculum, we don’t just want students to change their behavior during the class,” she says. “We want to teach lasting change, and that requires motivation. Motivation is two things: importance and confidence. You have to be able to define why it’s important for you to be doing this, and you have to be able to believe you can do it. If you don’t have motivation, you’re probably not going to stick with any exercise or health practice long-term.”

Brock’s certainly shown long-term motivation to make Clark a stronger institution. She has invested much of herself into Clark—professionally, personally, and financially. She has served on numerous committees, including the Healthy Penguin Nation Committee to promote employee health, and is a regular donor to the Clark College Foundation.

Brock says she began donating to the Foundation when her two children, now teenagers, were enrolled in the college’s Child & Family Studies program as preschoolers, making her family third-generation Penguins.

“My kids are the amazing people they are today because of that program,” she says. “So that really prompted me to give—I could see the program needed support.”

Since then, Brock has donated regularly to the Foundation, which supports capital improvements to the college as well as scholarships and programs to promote academic excellence.

“I like putting my money toward solving problems,” Brock says. “Education is a solution; if you educate the world, the world can change. It’s a very direct way to say, ‘I believe in what I’m doing and I believe in our students.’”

Read Veronica Brock’s Top 10 Tips for a Healthy Lifestyle.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

Does getting healthy feel so overwhelming to you that it doesn’t seem worth bothering to start? Health and Physical Education professor Veronica Brock has good news for you. “Just because you’re not eating carrots and walking a treadmill every day, that doesn’t mean you’re not healthy,” she says. “I’d love people to erase all the guilt they have about this, and to have an awareness that health is more than being physically healthy.”

Brock counsels those interested in developing healthier habits to start small. “Focus on baby steps to get to your end goal,” she says, adding that it’s important to clarify what that goal is. “Focus on why it’s important to you. Do you want to play with your grandkids more, or keep up with your own kids? Stay focused on that.”

Top 10 Tips

1. Get adequate amounts of sleep. The exact amount varies from person to person, but eight hours is the average.
2. Drink plenty of water (and no, sugary sodas are not an acceptable substitute).
3. Eat whole, unprocessed foods.
4. Eat primarily plants.
5. Eat mindfully. Be aware of when you’re hungry and not hungry, and don’t just eat on autopilot.
6. Be active at least 150 minutes a week.
7. Don’t sit for more than 30 minutes at a time. “Get up from the keyboard and take a quick walk,” Brock advises.
8. Be grateful. “Research shows gratitude helps with happiness,” Brock says. “Actively look for things to be grateful for in your life.”
9. Cultivate meaning and purpose in your life.
10. Cultivate healthy relationships. “Belong to something. Join something,” Brock advises. “Social connections help us stay healthy mentally, emotionally, and even physically.”

Jaimee Keck shows off one of her favorite yoga poses, an activity she got interested in after joining the Biggest Loser Challenge

The results are in from the Clark College Fitness Center’s first “Biggest Loser” challenge, and the winner is: Clark student Jaimee Keck, who lost 41 pounds over the course of the 10-week event. “While I am happy to have won the competition, I am also proud of everyone who competed for making an effort to improve their health,” she said.

Fitness Center Manager Garet Studer said he came up with the idea for the challenge by seeing similar events, in which participants register to be part of a weight-loss contest, held at other colleges and recreation centers. “We never dreamed it would have as much interest as it did,” he said. “We were thinking 20 people [would sign up], max. Just two weeks of posting the event, we were already over 50 applicants.”

In the end, 24 contestants finished the challenge, which ran through winter quarter. Each contestant was assigned a team at the beginning of the quarter, led by a certified Clark College personal trainer coach. Each team met once a week for a one-hour session; their progress was tracked through weekly weigh-ins posted on a reader board. On average, each contestant lost 12 pounds by the end of the quarter.

“A lot of people want to work out and lose weight but have no idea how to get started and stay motivated,” said Studer. “The Biggest Loser program is designed to help with those two things. Our personal trainers work in group settings to design exercise programs and give direction as to how to safely and effectively lose weight.”

Studer said the Fitness Center is planning to host another Biggest Loser challenge during the 2014 winter quarter.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley