Clarkers participate in Read Across America 2009
What better way to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday than by reading to a child?
On Monday, March 2 (Dr. Seuss's birthday), students, faculty and staff from Clark College volunteered to read to students at Harney and Washington elementary schools as part of the 2009 Dr. Seuss Birthday Celebration: Read Across America event. Twenty-four volunteers visited 28 classrooms to read to students in grades K-5 at the two schools.
Clark College has formal partnerships with Harney and Washington as part of the Partnership for Service in Schools Project funded by a Learn & Serve America grant. The goal of the program is to improve the school success of disadvantaged youth, ensuring that more college students have opportunities to serve as part of their academic studies through high-quality service-learning. The Read Across America event was a key activity to provide a co-curricular service-learning opportunity for college students and faculty to read books and promote literacy among school-age children.
As part of Clark's 75th anniversary celebration, the college's Service-Learning program teamed up with the Clark College Bookstore to organize the "75 Book Drive." Through the purchase and donation of books, Clark College students, staff and community members exceeded the goal (75 books in honor of 75 years) by donating a total of 83 copies of The Real Mother Goose. The donated books were given to Washington Elementary School to be distributed to students, providing every child the opportunity of having a book of their own to read.
Read Across America is a national reading campaign of the National Education Association. Reading events are scheduled year-round to encourage reading among school-aged children.
The future is green: Clark takes part in second National Teach-In on Global Warming
Clark College joined more than 1,000 other educational institutions, community groups, and faith-based organizations from across the country to participate in the second National Teach-In on Global Warming on Thursday, Feb. 5.
Sessions were held throughout the day focusing on issues and solutions to global climate change and related issues regarding sustainability, including peak oil, ecotourism, women and global climate change, and green collar careers.
Many students attended one or more sessions as part of class assignments - and many were surprised by what they learned. "I'd never realized just how serious the issue was until I saw Adam's photos," said a Geology 102 student who attended the session entitled, "Studying Climate Change Using Repeat Photography," led by Adam Mosbrucker. "The extreme glacial changes are something that should not be taken lightly." An environmental biology student who attended health and physical education professor Lisa Borho's seminar on bicycle and pedestrian travel noted, "I learned a fascinating point: that humans were created to have a relationship with nature and that we need time in the outdoors to live and thrive - it's good for our well-being."
"Participating in the planning for our teach-in on global warming was an incredible experience," said Dr. Charlene Montierth, professor of geology and co-chair of the teach-in planning committee. "The generosity of the college, both at the institutional and the individual level, made the event successful. It's a lot of fun to work with people on a project they are ethusiastic about. Educating our students and community about sustainability issues and the challenges we face around climate change is a passionate topic for many people."
Organized nationally by the National Teach-In Committee, the event is designed to encourage participants to address the immediate and urgent challenges posed by climate change and empower them to engage personally in finding solutions that work. "I believe this event was most successful in the way it showed how simple it is to live a green lifestyle," noted one of Montierth's students. "I've often heard people say that it's too much work to change toward green, but this event gave the knowledge and tools to make the switch with ease."
Dental health day helps spread smiles across children's faces
On Saturday, Feb. 7, faculty and students in the Clark College Dental Hygiene department partnered with the Clark County Dental Society, Clark County Public Health, the SW Washington Free Clinic Dental Van, the Greater SW Washington Dental Hygienists' Association, and the Washington Oral Health Foundation to sponsor the third annual Children's Dental Health Day.
A combination of treatments - both preventative and restorative (fillings) - were provided by volunteer dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants and students (including 32 dental students from OHSU, 52 dental hygiene students from Clark and 30 dental assisting students from the Clark County Vocational Skill Center). A total of 301 children were seen, resulting in 497 restored surfaces (fillings), sealants on 334 teeth, pulp therapy to 30 teeth, 42 tooth extractions, and 145 children receiving fluoride varnish. The value of the various treatments provided free of charge to Southwest Washington children totaled more than $70,000.
