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.”

Physical Education instructor Judy Glenney stands in Clark’s weight room. “I still train,” she says. “I want students to see physical fitness as a lifelong activity. I don’t intend to quit any time soon.”

Students in Judy Glenney’s physical education classes learn a few things about their instructor early on: She’s funny. She’s patient. She’s happy to meet students where they are, whether that’s “just got off the couch” or “training for my next triathlon.”

What they don’t always find out, however, is Glenney’s landmark role in promoting women in sports–namely, in making women’s weightlifting an Olympic event. In fact, last October Glenney was honored by the International Weightlifting Federation at a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of women’s competitive weightlifting, held during the IWF’s 2013 World Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

Glenney guides a student in her Fitness Center Basics class.

“She doesn’t toot her own horn,” says Kathy Slavin, secretary of Clark’s Health and Physical Education Division. “We probably would not have heard about the IWF honor except she had to have a sub for her classes while she was gone.”

“I kind of keep it under wraps,” admits Glenney. “I feel like I would be gloating. But every once in a while, especially with my female students, I’ll let it slip–just, like, ‘Yes, you can lift that, even if you’re a girl. I’ve lifted more than 200 pounds.'”

When Glenney herself first became interested in weightlifting in the 1970s, no one was around to provide her with that empowering message. At the time, women weren’t even supposed to lift weights as exercise, much less in competition. Glenney stumbled into weightlifting by accident: While working one summer for a campus ministry, she wandered into the building’s weight room looking for a place where she and her colleagues could work out.

“I looked around at all the weights and stuff and thought, ‘Wow, this is so cool!'” she recalls. “The only person there was this good-looking young man who offered to show me around, and I said, ‘Yes, please!'”

That good-looking young man turned out to be a student named Gary Glenney, who participated in a Christian weightlifting group called Athletes in Action. The two hit it off, and married soon after Judy graduated from Pacific University in 1971.

Judy Glenney would travel with her new husband to weightlifting competitions, and found herself intrigued by the sport. “It looked like gymnastic movements with weights,” said Glenney, who had participated in several athletic teams while in college.

Glenney stands between IWF president Dr. Tamas Ajan and IWF General Secretary Ma Wenguang after receiving an award at the 2013 IWF World Championships in Wroclaw, Poldand. Photo courtesy of Judy Glenney.

Soon she was learning how to make those moves herself. But when she asked her husband about weightlifting competitions for women, he told her there weren’t any–but that he’d be happy to help her start one. At first, Glenney began asking to compete at the men’s competitions. Soon, however, other women joined her–either inspired by seeing her compete or attracted through Glenney’s outreach efforts. She began to push for separate women’s events at some competitions, and the creation of a separate category for women’s weightlifting records–many of which she set herself. But societal resistance to the idea of “lady” weightlifters proved harder to budge than any barbell.

“My first competition was in 1972, and we didn’t have our first national competition until 1981,” she says with a wry grin. “So, yeah, it took a while.”

But Glenney wasn’t content to simply make it into the U.S. Weightlifting Federation. She wanted women’s weightlifting recognized by the IWF as well–and, ultimately, by the premier name in international sports. “In my mind, I was never just thinking national,” she says. “I wanted it to be an Olympic competition.”

That proved no small feat. Glenney lobbied the IWF to include women in its world championships, which it finally did in 1987. But women’s weightlifting didn’t become an Olympic event until 2000. Glenney was there–but as a judge, not a competitor. She had long since retired from competitive weightlifting, finishing her career as a four-time Women’s National Champion, five-time Master’s National Champion, and two-time World Master’s Champion.

Glenny holds a photo of herself from her weightlifting manual from the 1980s.

Glenney characterizes the Sydney Olympics as a bittersweet moment for her: “Deep down, I was kind of disappointed because I’d missed it as a lifter, but at the same time I was so excited because I contributed to those women being part of the Olympics.”

By then, Glenney had already transitioned into teaching. For 15 years, she has taught classes including Weight Training, Core Conditioning, Fitness Center Basics, and Tennis at Clark College, helping hundreds of students find their own strength.

“She’s an amazing instructor,” says Fitness Center Basics student Anna Rybalka between reps on a weight machine in the Fitness Center. “She manages to be professional and funny at the same time.”

“She’s very upbeat,” says Bryan Andrews, another Fitness Center Basics student, as he adjusts his pace on a treadmill. “She’s personally come over and helped adjust the machines for me. She definitely knows what she’s talking about.”

“At Clark, we pride ourselves on our talented and experienced faculty, and Judy certainly fits those criteria,” says Dean of Health Sciences Blake Bowers. “I appreciate the depth of knowledge she brings to the teaching of physical education, as well as the inspiration she provides not just to her students, but her to fellow faculty members as well.”

“I enjoy the total environment of Clark–the students, faculty, and staff,” says Glenney, whose husband teaches at Clark in the Mathematics Department. “It is just a joy to be around these people and be part of the community of Clark College. The staff everywhere is always willing to help with all my needs, no matter how large or small.”

For Glenney, one of the great joys of teaching is providing her female students with the guidance and encouragement that was absent when she was a young athlete, allowing them to discover their own physical power.

“By the end of the quarter, they’re like, ‘Oh man, look what I can do!'” she says, smiling. “For the first time, they’re really testing their own strength. They say, ‘Wow, I really am strong!’

“And I say, ‘Yeah, you are.'”

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley