Blessing....

 

No matter how many times I find myself in Washington DC and, no matter how dysfunctional Congress may seem to be at the moment, I never cease to be awestruck when I stand next to the Capitol, marveling not just at the building's architecture but more so at the architecture of the republic for which it stands.

We are an amazingly blessed nation..... a statement that I make not so much with pride as with an overwhelming sense of responsibility for spreading this blessing to the rest of the world. And it's not all that different from the "blessing" I feel here at LBCC, and the corresponding sense of responsibility I feel for using what we have and who we are to benefit our communities.

Oh, and I was in DC to participate in what is being described as a "blue ribbon" committee that has been commissioned to take the AACC Report of the 21st Century Commission, Reclaiming the American Dream, and turn it into "feet-on-the-ground" implementation on our 1300 community college campuses.  Being given the opportunity to be a part of this work is another "blessing"....

Here's a link to a recent article about this "AACC Implementation Committee."  

http://www.communitycollegetimes.com/Pages/Campus-Issues/EmbeddingCentury-Initiative-ideas-onto-campuses.aspx

Hot Air Balloons

This past Saturday, my wife Rita and I have the privilege of taking our first ride in a hot air balloon as part of the Northwest Art and Air Festival.  Rita and I had skydived together a couple of years ago and enjoyed that experience immensely, but the hot air balloon offered different - and perhaps deeper - kind of experience that neither of us will soon forget.

One of the big differences was the ability to converse while in the air - to be able to reflect on the experience with the people we were sharing the ride with us.  And so I got to know Randall - our pilot - who, once he learned that I was LBCC's presented, shared with me that he had no less than three Associates degrees from one of our sister schools, Portland Community College.  So he and I talked a lot about the opportunities that our respective educations had afforded us and he shared that, while he had for a time considered going on to complete a Bachelors degree, his three community college degrees (including one in aircraft operations and service) had provided all the opportunities he needed.... including the doorway into his business that rebuilds hot air balloons!

I thanked him for the ride, and he thanked me for the work we do as community colleges.

Fear

It's hard to explain the moments of terror that cause me to lose control of my legs, that cause me to lose my balance and collapse to the ground......

I am deathly affraid of heights. But, in spite of this fear - or perhaps because of this fear - I tend to put myself into situations where I am faced with this thing that fear almost more than anything.  A couple of years ago I went skydiving.  Last year I climbed a mountain.  This year I went backpacking in the Goat Rocks National Wilderness Area. 

So, there was a place in this most recent backpack where the trail ran along a vertical face maybe 300 ft above the ground below.... At one point the trail narrowed to no wider than a foot and there, for about two feet, the trail actually sluffed off into the void below... a void that I had to step over! I panicked and it was only by focusing my eyes on my friend in front of me, and tuning my ears to his encouraging words, that I made it through that section.

Yes, I made it, but the fear associated with those moments stole the joy from miles of the hike that I would have otherwise enjoyed and, in that experience, I realized that fear is NOT always exhilarating - sometimes it's just pure debilitating FEAR!

Not sure I'm ready to run away from my fears but, at 59 years of age, perhaps I'm learning to be more prudent in my efforts to face it.

Perhaps....


 

Education in Isolation?

At this year’s American Association of Community Colleges’ (AACC) Presidents Academy Summer Institute, I had the privilege and pleasure of listening to one of our profession’s most progressive and provocative teachers, Cole Camplese, who serves as the Senior Director for Teaching and Learning with Technology at Pennsylvania State University.  During his presentation, he shared with us a student’s response to a survey question about what going to school is like…

“Going to school is like getting on a plane.  You get in, sit down, strap in, and turn off all your stuff…. and you can't turn it back on until you land.”

If education is meant to help us be productive and fulfilled in the rest of our life, perhaps this “isolationist” approach may not be the best way to go about it…..

Being Put to Good Use

In the past week I have presided over LBCC's largest ever graduation, officiated at a dear friend's wedding, guided 22 high school students through the whitewaters of the Deschutes (and hopefully, by inference through some of the whitewaters of their lives as well), and lovingly (and publicly!) roasted a friend who has just retired from being a high school principal. 

What I discover in all this is that I am most happy when my life is being put to good use for others....

In My Spare Time

If there’s anything I’ve learned while here at LBCC, prominent among my lessons is that we as a community share in a passion for people.  Not just our students, but the community beyond our classrooms as well.  Through organizations like our local food banks, Boys and Girls Clubs, Big Brothers and Sisters, YMCA, religious organizations, Relay for Life, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Helping Hands, Jackson Street Youth Shelter, and so many, many more, we "in our spare time" are working to make a better life not just for ourselves, but for those around us as well.  This is part of what makes LBCC so great!

Many of you know that one of the ways in which I try and contribute to this work is through my guiding (both in the technical and in the relational sense) high school students through the shared experience of whitewater rafting.  While the ride is most certainly a thrill for these students (and for me too!!!), the real thrill for them comes in the form of some pretty significant self-discovery and the visceral experience of some powerful teamwork. 

After 90+ kids in three back-to-back groups, I’m both tired and elated.  Watch and see…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cz-6X3H7yPE

Greg

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.