Central Oregon Community College in the News

Bethany H. on Dipity.

Nurses, volunteers, and donors gathered in Pinckney Center for the Arts at Central Oregon Community College last Wednesday to participate in the Red Cross campus blood drive.

The quarterly blood drive at COCC is funded by the Associated Students of COCC, is organized by the Criminal Justice program, and is staffed with volunteers from the Criminal Justice program and registered nurses from the Red Cross.

Kathy McCabe, a professor in Criminal Justice, was the head organizer for the event. According to McCabe, the Red Cross is the only blood supplier in Central Oregon.

“That’s it for Saint Charles,” she said strongly, “Give blood. It’s the right thing to do.”
One of the RNs staffing the event, Jason Schmidt, quipped that his favorite part of his job was “sticking people.”

“I love sticking people with needles,” he laughed as he prepped a donor lying on a lawn chair.
Schmidt, who has been an RN for nearly six years, boasts over “14,000 sticks, no exaggeration.”
Schmidt was inspired to become a nurse after a serious snowboarding accident, which resulted in him needing 18 units of donated blood. Schmidt is a full time RN for the Red Cross.

“Everybody should give blood,” he said, “Even if you don’t like needles there are still a lot of ways you can help out with the Red Cross.”

Most of the donors looked relaxed on their lounge chairs, with red blankets covering them. Sherry Richards, the donor Schmidt was working with, was inspired to give blood by her nephew, who has cancer. Richards had to miss one of her classes to donate blood, but as a Criminal Justice student she wasn’t worried by it.

“Teachers are really understanding about letting us out of class for this. I’m nervous (about donating), but it’s worth it to save someone’s life,” Richards said wryly, “It’s a good cause.”

Volunteer Brittany Hopkins, also a student in the Criminal Justice program, worked efficiently and smoothly at the sign-in table.

Over 72 donors signed up in advance, and the rest of the spaces were filled by walk-ins. Hopkins, however, said she would not be donating any blood.

“It’s not the blood,” she laughed, “it’s the thought of a needle in my arm.”

However, Hopkins was glad to be volunteering for the Red Cross.

“It’s just the fact of helping somebody and knowing their life may depend on it. It saves lives. It’s important,” she said.

Bestseller Book Brings People Together

Veterans of teaching in Central Asia and Central Oregon Community College librarians collaborated last Wednesday to organize a group discussion about Greg Mortenson’s hit non-fiction book “Three Cups of Tea.”

The library sponsors the Campus Reads program, and “Three Cups of Tea,” about Mortenson’s work building schools in Central Asia, is their first book in the project, and was chosen to coincide with the Season of Non-Violence.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first discussion group for the Campus Reads program. Librarian Cat Finney, organizer of Campus Reads, was fortunate enough to be in contact with Irv Nygren, a teacher and resident of Central Asia for 35 years, who attended the meeting.

“I became the pastor of a protestant church there (Central Asia) in the ‘80s,” Nygren said. In 1985, he founded a school for missionaries’ children, which he directed for the next 12 years. Nygren is very familiar with the areas Mortenson experienced and recorded in his book, and testified to the accuracy of the tome during the meeting.

Mortenson spends time in his book discussing culture shock and becoming a part of an unfamiliar culture. Nygren said that he fully understood and sympathized with Mortenson’s experiences.

“Just sit and be quiet for a while,” Nygren said. “When you come back, you have to get back into your own culture.”

Also attending the meeting was Maren Craig, who lived in Central Asia for four years in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, attending Woodstock School.

“When he talked about the tea and the rancid yak butter, I could smell and taste them.” Craig said.

She praised Mortenson’s writing abilities, as well as his total immersion into the societies where he built schools.

Craig was impressed with how Mortenson captured “all the smells, all the sights, sounds, and how they (the residents) interact in the family and the village,”

Margie Carlson, a student at COCC, had more to add about Mortenson’s ability to immerse.
“There’s a deeper level of listening. It crosses cultures,” Carlson said.

Mortenson successfully reached that level of listening in the communities he lived and worked in, and wrote with such realism and honesty that everyone who attended the Campus reads meeting said they thoroughly enjoyed “Three Cups of Tea.”

Who am I?

I am Bethany Hargrove, and I have an unreasonable love for words. I was born and raised in Central Oregon and home-schooled K-12. I graduated high school early and started going to Central Oregon Community College at the age of 16, when I discovered how much I love writing.

Although I never really thought about journalism, I ended up enrolling in a beginning reporting class, just to try a different style of writing. I always knew that I loved the garnering of information, and I discovered how much I enjoy going out and talking to people to find it. People are fascinating. Also, I have an incurable love for shouting from the rooftops, so journalism found a special place in my heart.

The future of journalism is here. Technologies like computers and electronic books have changed how the public wants to experience information. Easy access to public forums, like blogs, has given everyone a voice and a way to share news, whether personal or public. Although news may not be as accurate at the source as it has been in the past, the huge spike in news sources can give an accurate picture of what's going on in the world through differing points of view. Sources may be biased, but for every biased source there is one equally biased on the other side of the story, and there may even be a balanced source.