What I learned about Tuition Equity while rafting the Deschutes River

It was back in March of 2011 that I provided testimony in support of Senate Bill 742, the “Tuition Equity Bill” which, if it had passed, would have provided all graduates of Oregon’s high schools with access to all of our state institutions of higher education at in-state tuition rates.  Unfortunately, the 2011 Legislature chose not to pass that Bill and so hundreds upon hundreds of our young people continue to be denied the equal access they deserve and from which our communities would benefit.  But that’s all, as they say “academic,” until you spend some intense time with one of those young people…  And that’s where Javier* comes in.

Javier was one of the high school students on the raft I guided down the Deschutes River this past weekend.  A wonderful young man of captivating charm and energizing spirit, a senior who will be graduating in another month, and a person of incredible potential that quite possibly neither he nor our communities will ever realize because he is an undocumented resident of our State.  Javier came to the US when he was 5 years old, has worked hard to learn English and then to complete high school, has a job that he works equally hard at, and hopes someday to go to college, marry, have a family, and be a productive member of his community.  He’s what every one of us should hope for in our students…  and I was immediately taken in by him.

At the end of our trip down the river together, Javier went out of his way to tell me how much he appreciated our time together… and to give me the biggest hug.  I teared up, partially because of his heart-felt expression of affection, but also because I know how hard it will be for him to achieve all that he dreams of.

The “Tuition Equity Bill” is sure to be reintroduced for the 2013 Legislative Session, and I am hopeful that this time we will do this one thing to help make Javier’s chances a little better.

*Note:  “Javier” is not this young man’s real name, and I have chosen to use a pseudonym so as not to risk the chance of making his path even harder.

LBCC Pride...

So, this past Sunday my wife and I had a chance to see the LBCC Theatre production of Agamemnon and, I have to say, it's hard to refrain from superlatives in describing what we experienced....  The music, the industrial Gothic sets, the acting, the interpretation of Greek tragedy into a modern form.... nothing short of amazing!

And then, in this morning's paper I read about our Choir going to London!

And then I read in an Email about LBCC Baseball Coach Greg Hawk's 600th win!!!!

And then........  well, let's just say that I'm awfully proud to be a part of the LBCC "team."

Connective Tissue

What is it that forms the connective tissue between classes that turns those individual instructional modules into a life-changing and empowering whole?

This is what I was thinking about as I was trying to learn the scores of our baseball games against Lane CC, and then again as I was working to buy tickets to the LBCC production of Agamemnon.  How do these activities enrich not only their participants’ experiences of LBCC, but all our experiences?  Are these activities part of the “connective tissue” and, if so, do we take full advantage of them… for ourselves and for our students?

Of course, when I think about it, I realize that it’s not the activities themselves that form this connective tissue but, instead, it’s the people who are a part of them… the people who, because of them, become a part of a whole.... part of a Community.

Bill Ayres (Co-founder of World Hunger Year) once said, “A man not only needs to know how to fish, he needs to have the freedom to do it and a place to do it. That's where community comes in.”

Perhaps this is what attracts me to things like our Sports Teams, our Choral Groups, our Theatre, our ROV Team, Student Leadership, Active Minds, Poetry Club, Welding Competition, Livestock Judging…….  Well, it’s a long list, but it’s all about the same thing: Providing a place where we have not just the opportunity to learn, but the place where we have the opportunity to “do it”... to "try it out."  And I think that it's this "doing" - and doing it together - that knits us together into something more that we are in ourselves, forming “community” here at LBCC..... and planting the seeds for “community” out there too.

One of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner, once wrote “The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.”

We are the “connective tissue”…….