Class Notes 2010-2020

Class Notes - Clark College Foundation

December 2022

After spending 10 years in the military, Chris Baldwin ’16 found himself with a host of problems until turning to a healthier lifestyle, including the benefits of drinking tea. In 2021, Baldwin merged his newfound love for tea with his passion of helping soldiers and started a tea company that supports military reintegration programs across the United States.

Eileen Cowen ’12 has a passion to forage for edible and medicinal plants in the wilderness areas of Clark County, Wash. After leaving Clark College, Cowen received her bachelor’s degree in history from Washington State University Vancouver and holds an associate degree in herbalism from the American College of Healthcare Sciences.

Justin Jenks ’14 was selected as a member of the Vancouver Business Journal’s Accomplished & Under 40 Class of 2022. Jenks is a senior manager at Opsahl Dawson CPAs. Aside from his professional work, he is a member of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants, supervisory committee chair for the Pacific Northwest Federal Credit Union and a mentor for the WSU Carson College of Business Carson Coaching Program.

November 2022

Alan Hwang ’13 recently joined Riff Creative Studio as the agency’s chief growth officer. Hwang will develop new business and community partnerships, support the agency’s strategic impact in geographic markets, and enhance Riff’s service offerings for their public and private clients.

September 2022

Andy Bao ’18

Andy Bao ’18

Andy Bao ’18 a former staff photographer for Clark College’s student newspaper, The Indy, was also a 2017 photography intern with The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash. He went on to earn a degree at UCLA. In 2020 while at UCLA, he won Student Photographer of the Year from the National Press Photographers Association. Bao is now working for The Associated Press in New York City.  

 

Riley Donahue ’14 has pursued a career at NBC studios in New York City, where he is a motion and graphic design for digital content for “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers.” He also acts as the digital design lead for “Saturday Night Live” and intern manager on the “Late Night” digital marketing team. 

 

Former intern for The Columbian newspaper Stefanie Valentino ’12 now works as a public relations specialist at PeaceHealth headquarters in Vancouver, Wash. After Clark, Valentino went on to Western Washington University and earned her journalism degree in 2015. Since graduation, Valentino has had several media and media relations jobs.  

June 2022

Vladlena DuFresne ’11 is launching an on demand event equipment rental app, called ROGO. It  is part of the Columbian River Economic Development Council’s Business Accelerator program, which helped the company establish a business model. DuFresne, a Clark College Running Start student, also received a grant from Workforce Southwest Washington to help launch her business.

Lily Hart ’16 is finishing her master’s in history at the University of British Columbia and will begin a doctorate in history at the University of British Columbia in fall 2022, with full funding. Hart was a Phoenix Art and Literary Journal student ambassador and editor at Clark from 2015-16.

May 2022

Bolt Minister ’11 of 54-40 Brewing Company has partnered with some local beverage distributors to supply products to retail shops, restaurants and taprooms throughout Washington. Minister started 54-40 Brewing with a production facility, brewery and taproom in Washougal in 2015 and opened the 54-40 Beer Lodge in Stevenson in the fall of 2021.

April 2022

Britany Forgey ’17 is starting a new career position as a registered nurse coordinator for a transition mentorship and simulation unit at Providence Oregon Region. After attending Clark, Forgey received her bachelor of science in nursing from Linfield University in 2019.

March 2022

Anja O’Neil ’12, owner of Trusty Brewing Co. in downtown Vancouver, Wash, is selling the brewery to take care of the family business. The brewery opened in 2016, and O’Neil is looking for a buyer with a passion for making craft beer and a seamless transition.

Columbia River High School paraeducator Ewa Teipel ’10 and colleagues created a fundraiser supporting Ukrainian refugees who have fled across the border. Teipel has extensive family living in her hometown of Jozefow, Poland, and using her contacts, they were able to establish connections in the region to directly wire money to shelters assisting with the refugee crisis.

BBQ Blessings, a former BBQ food truck, will soon get a permanent home in the building that once housed Christine’s Restaurant. The new owners have brought on Chef Judy Williams ’14 who earned her culinary degree from Clark College. She will be responsible for the breakfast menu, which will include a wide arrangement of classic and fancy breakfast options.

February 2022

Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue has worked with underserved populations, especially senior citizens, through its Community Assistance Referral and Education Services (CARES) program for the past two years. CARES firefighter and paramedic Josh Haldeman ’12 is part of its post-emergency program that uses alternative care solutions when police or an ambulance is unnecessary. Haldeman helps answer medication questions or gives tips on how to prevent falls to help vulnerable populations remain safe.

January 2022

Tanya Johnson ’16 and her daughter opened a 1,500-square-foot photo studio and event space in Battle Ground, Wash., named the Elizabeth Marie Collective. The area seats up to 70 people and has an equipped kitchenette for food preparation. The photo studio provides various backgrounds and seamless backdrops.

Irinia Sirotkina 0’16, opened Sweetly Bakery and Café, a new bakery in Battle Ground, Wash., offering French pastries like croissants and macaroons. In addition, the bakery creates traditional fare like cakes, pies and cupcakes. Sweetly Bakery does custom orders for weddings, bridal showers, baby showers, parties and gatherings.

Sarah Swift ’16 married Connor Haggerty ’15 at the Glenwood Community Church in Vancouver, Wash., on October 23, 2021. Smith was a vice president in Clark’s student government, known as the Associated Students of Clark College, scholarship recipient and played a violin performance at the 2015 Clark College Foundation Savoring Excellence event.

December 2021

Thomas Merfeld ’17 was honored with the installer of the year award in December 2021 from Lifetime Windows and Doors.

November 2021

Damien Wheeler ’16 has spent most of his career giving back to the same low-income community where he was raised. Wheeler worked at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington, his alma mater Fort Vancouver High School and served as a liaison at Bridgeview Resource Center. He recently left his role at Bridgeview to work as an emergency medical technician and aims to someday become a local firefighter. Wheeler credits much of his success to support and opportunities he was offered as a kid. He believes community support made a difference in his life.

September 2021

Brandon Culp ’11 and his family opened a Christmas theme store in Hazel Dell called Christmas in Vantucky. The family-run-and-owned business sells Christmas items including ornaments, specialty food and candies, white elephant gifts, and secret Santa gifts and is open year-round.

Bolt Minister ’11 and his wife Amy, owners of 54-40 Brewing Company, opened a second restaurant location in downtown Stevenson that features New York-style pies similar to those made by the facility’s former occupant, Andrew’s Pizza. The Ministers opened 54-40 Brewing’s first location in the Port of Camas-Washougal’s industrial park in Washougal in 2015 and were looking for another small rural community location for their second shop.

August 2021

Cat Duque ’21 is the newest addition to National Public Radio’s NextGenRadio, a radio training project. In her debut story, Duque details the story of Clark alumnus Damien Wheeler who has spent his career helping people who are at risk of falling behind.

June 2021

Becca Robbins ’16 was hired by The Columbian as a breaking news reporter and will cover crime and courts. She is a 2016 graduate of Skyview High School and Clark College, and a 2019 graduate of the University of Oregon. Most recently, she was employed by the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Ore., where she covered public safety.

Dylan De Baldo ’21 was awarded the Clark College’s Trustee Scholarship to attend Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash., this fall. De Baldo, a business major at Clark, plans to join the soccer team at his new school and study business.

May 2021

Former Clark soccer superstar Kai Brown ’15 accepted an offer to lead the physical education department at Jewell School in Seaside, Ore. Brown currently teaches first and second grade at Jewell and spent five summers working for the annual Portland Timbers youth camp prior to returning to her hometown.

Lara Pollach ’19 is planning to open her own restaurant, Radicle: New American Eatery, sometime in 2021 in the Portland metro area. Radicle is the part of a seed that becomes the root of the plant. Pollach chose the name to symbolize establishing roots within the culinary community. Her hope is to extend those roots to local charitable organizations that bring awareness and support to underserved communities who are working to overcome food shortages.

April 2021

Corey Dobbs ’16, development specialist at Clark College Foundation, was recognized as a 2021 CASE District VIII Rising Star Award recipient. Rising Star Awards honor individuals with three to five years of experience in the advancement professions of alumni relations, communications and marketing, advancement services and philanthropy, recognizing the accomplishments of those whose early success bodes well for future leadership and achievement.

Throughout the pandemic, Julie Jacobson ’11 and her colleagues at Vancouver ESD 112’s 1-2-3 Grow & Learn program have used games, stories, and numbers and letters practice exercises for kids to do at home with adults during the weekly sessions.

March 2021

Kim Harless ’11 is running for Vancouver’s City Council position 1 seat this November. Harless currently represents councilor District 1 on the Charter Review Commission. She has also served as the coordinator of the Clark County Solid Waste Advisory Commission, the co-chair for the Public Health Department’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Group and did eight years at Clark County as an Environmental Operations Specialist for Public Health doing waste and recycling system planning and contract oversight.

Custom furniture refinisher and Harmony Roselli ’12 was highlighted in The Columbian to share her experience of how the pandemic has affected the furniture repair business. Roselli has noticed a demand with people wanting to fix up and furniture and also a demand on raw materials used to refinish furniture.

Dennis Baciuc ’18 has accepted a graduate teaching assistantship with the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York next fall. Baciuc is currently finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Northern Colorado as a Field Scholar in Music supported by the Clark College Foundation.

February 2021

A small group of local investors, including Mychael Jones ’14, followed the Reddit forum WallStreetBets and purchased stock in GameStop, creating the first “Short Squeeze” coordinated on social media. Jones and others bought a small portion of stock which drove the price up, inflicting financial pain on the various hedge funds that have taken short-selling positions against GameStop and other big retailers.

At its annual investor celebration hosted virtually in January, The Columbia River Economic Development Council (CREDC) elected new members, including Billy Henry ’14, to serve a three-year term on the non-profit’s Board of Directors.

December 2020

Salina Machida ’11, a second grade teacher at Pleasant Valley Elementary School, was awarded the Learn Here 2020 Real Hero award for Battle Ground Public Schools. She was recognized for using creative tools to help her students learn collaboratively during the pandemic.

Cameron Chilcote ’14 is one of 16 first-year teachers across Vancouver Public Schools who is navigating their new career in this unprecedented year of teaching during the global pandemic. Educators in Clark County’s school districts have spent the early months of the 2020-21 school year getting to know new faces and names of students through Remote Learning screen time. But for Cameron and other first-year teachers, they’re also getting crash courses on chaos and change as they navigate their new careers in the midst of a pandemic. He said it’s reassuring to know he’s not the only one navigating an unscripted territory of education, and he continues to embrace the ways this year is different from the one he imagined.

Michelle Finucane ’17, a nurse with PeaceHealth, administered the first COVID-19 vaccination shot in Clark County to her colleague on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. Vaccinations started across the nation the week of December 14. PeaceHealth Southwest received 4,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Takunda Masike ’16 is working as a systems engineer for General Dynamics within their Engineering Leadership Development Program. He plans to start his Master’s program in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins part time in the spring.

October 2020

The Vancouver Business Journal published a story about Amy Perrigo ’14 journey from employee to business owner. Perrigo is the owner and barber at Groom Room, a one-chair barbershop located in Vancouver’s CLASH Beauty Collective.

August 2020

Echo Moran-Prince ’12 and husband, Miguel Moran, have a classic low-rider car club that hosts car parades, drive-ins and birthday parties as a way to give back to the community during the pandemic. Moran-Prince, a drug and alcohol counselor at Columbia River, is leading an event at the Grains of Wrath Brewing in Camas in late August 2020 to raise money for at-risk youth in the area.

June 2020

La Center High School 2020 valedictorian, Kaitlin Boyle ’20, also earned an associate degree in biology from Clark College this spring. She is set to study pediatric oncology and has volunteered at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. Boyle has spent more than 350 hours helping at the hospital while completing her coursework and earning a 4.0 grade point average.

May 2020

Precision Personal Training owner Trevor Thomas ’12 has seen his business hit hard by the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order. Thomas has applied for all available financial assistance, including the SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan, the Paycheck Protection Program and Gov. Jay Inslee’s Emergency Funding for Small Businesses Grant. He said that while he remains optimistic in waiting for approvals and further funding of some programs, he’s unconcern of what the future holds.

Svetlana “Svieta” Zakharov ’14 talked to The Reflector about her experience as a registered nurse for Community Home Health and Hospice during the COVID-19 pandemic.

April 2020

Alex Herrboldt ’16, who works at PAX Learning Center, a nonprofit for Adult Basic Education and workforce development, is taking part in the organization’s shift in its business model of making face masks for local retirement homes during the pandemic.

Ruth Mess ’15 and Jesse Pack were not deterred by Washington’s statewide stay-at-home order. Instead, they tied the knot with an improvised marriage ceremony.

March 2020

Clark County Today staff reporter and filmmaker Jacob Granneman ’16 spent the last year creating a three-part documentary on the Yacolt Mountain Quarry in Northern Clark County. The episodes are  posted on the newspaper’s Youtube, Facebook and Clark County Today’s website.

Former Clark student newspaper photo editor Andy Bao ’18, now a junior at UCLA, took first place in the student photographer Sports Action category from the National Press Association. The winning shot was captured during the football game between University of Washington and University of Southern California at Husky Stadium in Seattle on September 28, 2019.

February 2020

Sarah Hoechlin ’17 began a new job as a promotions and game day operations coordinator on January 1, 2020. Hoechlin began her career with the team as an operations and promotions intern last year. She is also the 2019 Corvallis Knights baseball team’s Staff Member of the Year.

January 2020

Andy Bao ’18, who now attends UCLA, won Student Photographer of the Year from the National Press Photographers Association in February 2020. The winner of the award goes to the student that accumulates the most points during the year from quarterly photo contests. Bao’s photos were in the Sports Action and Sports Feature categories 

Three alumni, Melissa Boles ’08, Andrea Smith ’13 and Melissa Pedraza ’15, were recently named to Vancouver Business Journal’s “Accomplished and Under 40 Class of 2019” list. Boles is a program manager at Workforce Southwest Washington. Smith is a communications and education program manager with the Building Industry Association of Clark County. Pedraza is the brand director for MyBite Vitamins, a Gresham-based multivitamin company, and general manager of Platinum Pets in Vancouver.

Northwest Association for Blind Athletes (NWABA) hosted an evening of skiing and snowboarding for individuals who are blind or visually impaired at Mt. Hood Meadows on February 19 and 26. The nonprofit, which was founded by Billy Henry ’14 in 2007, has programs designed to build confidence, foster friendships with peers and encourage independence through an active, healthy lifestyle.

Sarah Hoechlin ’17, the Corvallis Knights baseball team’s 2019 Staff Member of the Year, began her new job as a promotions and game day operations coordinator on Jan. 1, 2020. Hoechlin began her career with the team as an operations and promotions intern last year.

December 2019

Hadley Phillips ’16 joined the staff of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce as a member engagement and event coordinator working with members and venues to organize chamber events and programs. Phillips is also a Washington State University Vancouver graduate. She will work with the chamber’s volunteer program and its ambassadors to promote visibility for the chamber and member businesses.businesses.

November 2019

The Vancouver Business Journal highlighted Vancouver-based MarkeTeam Foodservice in its family owned business section in November. MarkeTeam was founded in California in 1968 by Bill Miles and eventually moved to Washington. Today, the company is led by Bill’s son, Dan Miles. Dan’s wife Cindy Miles ’84 has worked in sales for the company since 2003. Dan and Cindy’s son Riley Miles ’11 started with the family business in 2007 and became territory sales manager in 2016. The company serves foodservice industry professionals in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, Hawaii and British Columbia.

Andrea Smith ’13 was named to the Vancouver Business Journal’s “Accomplished and Under 40 Class of 2019” list. Smith joined the Building Industry Association of Clark County in September as communications and education program manager after nearly three years at Southwest Washington Contractors Association. She is also a 2019 graduate of Leadership Clark County.

October 2019

Vita Blanco ’19 was featured in the Hechinger Report, a collaboration with the New York Times Education supplement, Learning. The article focuses on new routes to achieving high school diplomas and receiving college credits simultaneously. Blanco was a high school dropout who experienced periods of homelessness and was working long hours in a dentist’s office to support herself and her two daughters before deciding to enroll at Clark in 2017. Along the way she earned her high school diploma and completed her associate’s degree in June 2019.

Dena Brill ’16 provided an update via Facebook. She has been a live-in caregiver for developmentally and intellectually disabled people for the past 8 months. Dena will soon be moving to a new facility for her employer, L’arche Portland, in Beaverton, where she will work to knit together the communities at this new facility along with their existing facility in Montavilla, SE Portland. Dena also wrote a nice blog entry on L’arche’s website on how she found herself in her second phase of her career.

Sara Angelo ’11 was interviewed by the Columbian for a piece on a new community-based health workforce emerging with the aim to connect health systems and people who use them. Angelo is a coordinating committee member with Southwest Washington Community Health Advocate and Peer Support Network (SW CHAPS). Community workers like Angelo can complement the health care system by connecting people to medical services, acting as recovery coaches, or advocate for change to legislators and law enforcement.

Joe Marshall 10 was featured in the Camas-Washougal Post-Record in a story about an October event called Our Bold Voices. The event celebrated National Coming Out Month with a resource fair, coming-out stories and a question-and-answer session. Marshall is a trans man who found few resources available to him as a teenager and now volunteers as a mentor at Triple Point, a Vancouver support group for queer and trans youth run by the Children’s Home Society of Washington.

The Northwest Association for Blind Athletes, helmed by Billy Henry 14, hosted a Paralympic Games for children with visual impairments on October 4 in Salem. The NWABA is a Vancouver nonprofit that was founded by Henry in 2007. The activities included Goalball, a sport for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, as well as tandem bicycling and beep baseball.

September 2019

Dena Brill 16 is currently a live-in caregiver for developmentally and intellectually disabled people. Brill will be moving into a new facility in Beaverton with her employer, L’arche Portland. She will work to knit together the communities at the new location with the existing facility in Montavilla in Southeast Portland.

July 2019

Te’ana Conley ’11 appeared in a Columbian story about how she makes smoothies like a pro.

Veronica Marti 10 was featured in The Columbian about her work training a 10-week-old Labrador retriever named Jamboree for a career as a service guide dog for C-Tran. Marti, C-Tran’s lead travel trainer, will be training the pup.

June 2019

Michael Herlein ’10 talked with a reporter from the Albuquerque Journal about their rocket launch. He is one out of a group of “rocketeers” of the college’s Aerospace Program, who joined the third annual Spaceport America Cup: a three-day rocket design and launch competition in New Mexico.

Monica Santos-Pinacho ’10 was profiled in the Vancouver Business Journal. Santos-Pinacho is the director of communications for the Columbia River Economic Development Council.

Connor Weir ’19 talks to The Columbian about what inspires his work and the debut of his new piece “The Oceans of Time” with Clark’s Women’s Choral Ensemble and Concert Choir.

May 2019

Cancer survivor Zeke Estes ’14 was featured in The Columbian talking about ways he intends to make an impact at Washington State University Vancouver since beating the disease when he was a child.

Ann Murray ’16 was highlighted by The Columbian after completing a digital technology degree at Washington State University Vancouver.

Miles Roberts ’17 received the 2019 Library Research Award by Washington State University Vancouver for his research paper titled “Maximizing Costs to Prevent Antibiotic Resistance Evolution.”

April 2019

Evelyn Clark ’17, graduate of Clark’s paralegal program and Puget Island native, competed in the 2019 Miss USA. pageant as Miss Washington. Clark grew up in a commercial fishing family, spending every summer fishing in Alaska.  She began competing in pageants at age 10.

Loren Horowitz ’17 was included in Washington State University’s short list of award recipients for advancing student achievement.

March 2019

Takunda Tendayi Masike ’16 receives the “Husky 100,” an honor given by the University of Washington recognizing students who are “making the most of their time at UW.” This summer, he will intern at MIT’s Lincoln Lab.

February 2019

Miss Clark County pageant celebrates its 70th anniversary with fifteen contestants including Clark alumnae, Gloria Boieriu ’17 &  McKenzie Hammond ’16.

October-November 2018

Christopher Hight ’17 was featured in the Vancouver Business Journal in their weekly column “Up Close.” Hight is a data engineer for Interject Data Systems for HP in Vancouver. Additionally, Hight runs a nonprofit called Future of Code, which provides code literacy education to kids and young adults.

Megan Knight ’13 was featured in the Nov/Dec issue of Vancouver Vision Magazine, a Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce publication. Knight is a speech and language augmentative assisted communications specialist with Innovative Services Northwest.

Miranda ’14 and Nicholas ’04 Larson welcomed a son, Hunter Larson on October 22, 2018.

Lindsey Norberg ’16 spoke at the Clark College Business Web Practices Speaker Series on the subject of “The Creative Hustle.” Norberg is a visual designer for local financial services firm Johnson Bixby & Associates.

Fastech Solutions, owned by Tom Strobehn ’10, joined the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

Adeena Wade ’16 spoke at the Clark College Business Web Practices Speaker Series on November 7. Wade is currently employed in the marketing and communications office at Washington State University Vancouver, where she is also studying integrated strategic communications, psychology and women’s studies.

September 2018

The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce hired Sarah Cooke ’14 as its member engagement and communications specialist.

Jacob Granneman ’16 joined the news staff of ClarkCountyToday.com. Granneman graduated this spring from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University in Pullman.

Sunshine Hill '18

Sunshine Hill ’18 seen in Clark’s machine shop in 2017. Hill recently married.

Sunshine Hill ’18 married Michael Adams on September 5, 2018.

Alan Hwang ’13 facilitated a workshop, “A Digital-Only Strategy to Maximize Cyber Monday” through the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce (GVCC) on September 18, 2018. Hwang’s business, ACH Marketing, is a member of the GVCC.

Jules Laspa ’14 married Holly Susanne Kayleen Engh on August 28, 2018.

August 2018

Damion Jiles Sr., ’10 is running for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives, 17th Legislative District, position 2.

Scott Micheletti ’10 and partner Desiree Carlson welcomed a baby girl, Brooklyn M. Micheletti on August 9, 2018.

July 2018

Fallon Hughes ’12 accepted a new position with Pacific University in Forest Grove as coordinator for experiential education compliance.

Matthew Kuhl ’12 is running for the position of Wahkiakum County auditor. Kuhl currently serves as staff accountant for the Institute for Professional Care Education in Vancouver, Wash.

Nathaniel Brezner-Mendoza ’18 was recruited to play for the University of Portland Pilots starting as a right-handed pitcher this fall. Brezner-Mendoza is currently playing for the Rocky Mountain Collegiate Baseball League as a member of the Boulder Collegians team, where he has gained recent recognition for his skills on the field. Brezner-Mendoza is also the developer of the board game, Safe On A Base: www.safeonabase.com.

Integrative Body, Yoga and Massage, a holistic treatment center, owned by Deborah Watson ’11, joined the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce.

June 2018

Reporter Kandra Kent '10

Reporter Kandra Kent ’10. Photo by Jackson Hogan, The Daily News

Kandra Kent ’10 was featured in The Daily News in Longview, Wash., about how she got into journalism. Kent has been a reporter for KPTV (Fox 12 Oregon) since 2016.

Jonathan Dutson ’18, a graduate of the Machining program and former student ambassador at Clark, accepted a job at Howser Steel in Portland.

Leslie Minton ’12 and Sarah Kotz ’13, both of Gibsonton, Fla., were married in Clark County.

May 2018

Amanda Leigh Brown and Nicole Shannon Arnold ’10 were married in Vancouver, Wash.

Alec Cook ’17, currently third baseman for Linfield College, signed a 10-day contract with the Corvallis Knights for the 2018 season. The Knights are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Corvallis, Ore.

Audreyana Foster ’15 started a new position as customer service engineer at ASML, a semiconductor company.

Audreyana Foster with classmate Debbie Peters

Audreyana Foster (right) seen here in 2012 with classmate Debbie Peters.

Devin Gaughan ’17 joined the team of Sigma Design. Gaughan is a former firmware technician for Hewlett-Packard and is working toward a degree in neuroscience at Washington State University Vancouver.

Christina Gay ’12 was recognized in April in The Columbian for her academic and career accomplishments. Gay was a recipient of the I Have a Dream Program scholarship in 5th grade while attending Hough Elementary School in 1995. With the program’s support, she earned a registered nurse credential at Clark College and a bachelor of science in nursing at Washington State University Vancouver. Gay is now nearing her fourth anniversary as an RN for Legacy Salmon Creek Hospital.

First-generation college student Ramon Hernandez joined the Peace Corps in Morrocco, North Africa, following his graduation this spring from Washington State University Tri-Cities.

Brison Manandic ’18, a Running Start student from Camas, Wash., joined the FC Portland Football Club.

Ezekiel Wells ’15 was promoted to juvenile probation associate at the Clark County Juvenile Court.

Sigma Design hired Jefferay Watson ’16 as a test engineer. Watson has worked in the tech industry in Portland and Vancouver since 1997.

April 2018

Courtney Braddock ’16 joined the board of the Vancouver Energy Community Fund.

Barbara “Dani” Bundy ’17 accepted a new position as organizational change management coordinator for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges. She most recently served as student affairs ctcLink operations manager and student affairs liaison to the Guided Pathways initiative at Clark College.

Takunda Masike ’16 accepted a summer internship at the University of Wisconsin Madison in which he will assist in building chemical sensing and imaging capabilities using a quantum defect in a diamond structure.

Richelle McMann ’13, licensed massage therapist is the new owner of Self Balance Massage Inc.

Carlee Sanders ’11 of Washougal, wed Brain Smith, of La Habra, Calif., in Bellingham, Wash., on November 5, 2017.

March 2018

Jessica Beach ’12, secretary senior for Transitional Studies, is the winner of the Clark College Quarterly Classified Staff Excellence Award for fall 2017.

Azure Calder ’15, a mortgage lender for Evergreen Home Loans, joined the Clark College Alumni Board.

February 2018

Travis C. Eckert '13

Travis C. Eckert ’13

Travis C. Eckert ’13, grandson of Chicago Cubs player, Travis A. Eckert, joined the Minor League Baseball team, the Lexington Legends, which is a Class A Affiliate of the MLB’s Kansas City Royals.

January 2018

Kandie King '14

Kandie King ’14

Kandie King ’14 joined the Clark College team in the Office of Diversity and Equity as temporary administrative assistant.

December 2017

Fallon Hughes ’12 was hired as a program coordinator for Student Affairs at Clark College.

Takunda Masike ’16 completed his active training duty for the United States Army. He’ll attend the University of Washington in January.

October 2017

Cody Messick ’10 is part of a team of scientists that detected a fourth gravitational wave on August 14, 2017, which was announced on September 27. During the latest discovery, Messick was one of a handful of scientists who managed the wave data. His team heard the event about 30 seconds after it arrived on earth. “In our estimate, the noise would only produce something that looks like this roughly one in every 140,000 years,” said Messick, who is a doctoral student in physics at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Penn. Days following that announcement, three lead scientists from that team were awarded the Nobel Physics Prize on October 2, 2017, for their detection of the ripples in the fabric of space-time that occurred 1.8 billion light-years away. The first observation of the so-called gravitational waves was in September 2015.

September 2017

Mari Jessup ’12 was named a member mentor for cycle #3 of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce’s Mentorship Program. Jessup’s focus includes women in business, women of influence, office productivity and wellness. Jessup is an office manager for Miller, Nash, Graham, and Dunn LLP.

James Lackey ’14 and Kira Phillips welcomed a girl, Evelyn Lackey, who was born August 29, 2017.

Rachel Taulbee ’12 was hired by Clark College as a human resources assistant responsible for tracking benefit eligibility for employees.

August 2017

Aleksandr Anisimov ’13 was tapped for Clark’s Classified Staff Excellence Award in spring 2017. He’s an eLearning systems specialist.

Castine Cruz ’18 is an international student from Guam, who was awarded the U.S. Department of State’s Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study or intern abroad during the 2017-2018 academic year. She is studying health, biology, psychology and anthropology.

Takunda Masike ’16 was awarded a Washington NASA Space Grant scholarship to attend the University of Washington. He was also a semi-finalist for the Martin Foundation Honors Scholarship.

July 2017

Cody Messick ’10 is the 2017 Clark College Rising Star Alumni recipient.

June 2017

Alex ’11 and Paige Bailey ’12 welcomed twins Kingston and Kingsley, born May 22, 2017.

Kayla Cayton ’14 is one of five 2017 recipients of the iQ Credit Union scholarship program, honoring students pursuing undergraduate degrees or professional training.

Stephanie Eakins ’15 and husband Kyle are the Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce 2017 Citizens of the Year.

Spencer Gwinn ’16 is one of the recipients of the Clark County Fair Association Scholarship in 2017. In addition to being a Clark graduate, he also graduated from La Center High School and is currently attending Montana State University.

Charis Holscher ’15 wed Ensign Noah Wachlin on June 3, 2017. She is the first person in the history of the University of Wyoming at Laramie to earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in only four years.

Tarek Kanso 14 was hired at Zenith Properties Northwest.

Katarina Kubiniec ’16 is one of five 2017 recipients of the iQ Credit Union scholarship program, honoring students pursuing undergraduate degrees or professional training.

Lucas McGee ’13, of Creative Computer Solutions Inc., was promoted to senior network engineer.

Trevor Peterson ’17 and Harper Christian were married on June 10, 2017.

June 2017

Stephanie Tyna ’13 will join the faculty of Vancouver School District as a third grade teacher this fall. In addition to her Clark degree, she holds a master of arts in teaching from Concordia University.

Adriana Valencia ’16 is one of five 2017 recipients of the iQ Credit Union scholarship program, honoring students pursuing undergraduate degrees or professional training.

Gail Weeks ’10, a registered nurse, is among four PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center nurses named by the March of Dimes as Oregon and Southwest Washington Nurses of the Year.

May 2017

Michael Lusk ’13 was recognized for his work helping a local business. He and his student colleagues from Washington State University Vancouver’s Carson College of Business worked as a consultant for Ethereal Meads, a producer of locally sourced mead in Battle Ground. Lusk helped the small business expand their market and products and created a new label for their products.

Matthew ’14 and Amy Miller welcomed a boy, Owen J. Miller, born April 30, 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Robert Moehnke ’13 was recognized for his work helping a local business. He and his student colleagues from Washington State University Vancouver’s Carson College of Business worked as a consultant for Ethereal Meads, a producer of locally sourced mead in Battle Ground. Lusk helped the small business expand their market and products and created a new label for their products.

Evan Rumble's '11 "Shattered Sandstone, Table Rock, ID, 2017"

Evan Rumble’s ’11 “Shattered Sandstone, Table Rock, ID, 2017”

Evan Rumble ’11 was the featured artist in the “Teachers as Artists: Washington Arts Educators” juried exhibition at Maryhill Museum of Art in March and April. His work “Shattered Sandstone, Table Rock, ID, 2017” was displayed at the MJ Murdock Charitable Trust Education Center. The annual exhibit showcases the talent of Washington’s arts educators. “This subject of this painting is pulled from a black and white photograph I took of a large boulder, about 12 feet high, located just off a trail on Table Rock, a popular hiking destination for Boise, Idaho, residents. The cleavage of the sandstone seemed like an interesting dynamic to explore with shapes, while the limitations of a gray-scale palette could be fun to push,” says the artist.

April 2017

Cody Messick ’10, a doctoral student at Penn State, was awarded an Academic Computing Fellowship in April. The fellowship is offered through a partnership between Penn State’s graduate school and Penn State Information Technology Services. In 2015, Messick was part of a team that detected a first-ever gravitational wave signal, a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916. Since then, prestigious institutions have requested to have Messick train their undergraduate and post-doctoral students.

Donovan ’14 and Emily Nylund of Brush Prairie welcomed a daughter, Ellen H. Nylund, on March 24, 2017.

Greg Oehley ’12 of Olson Engineering was promoted to associate principal.

Jeremy Pinson ’14 joined the Sigma Design Team as an engineering technician.

March 2017

Cody Messick ’10 is lead author of a paper titled “Analysis Framework for the Prompt Discovery of Compact Binary Mergers in Gravitational-Wave Data.”

Kate Roose ’16 joined the Free Clinic of Southwest Washington as a program manager.

Anna Boneski ’15, Julie Mercado ’15, Katie Archer Jolma ’03, Hope Baker Bump ’93, Susan Edwards ’89, Teresa Haye ’95, Kris Henriksen ’98 and Sujatha Synne ’06 were among the 2017 WSUV Women of Distinction honorees who were celebrated at a reception March 30 at Firstenburg Student Commons.

January 2017

Justin Jenks ’14 was hired to the accounting staff of Geffen Mesher & Co.

Kylan Johnson ’14 and Alex Mickle ’08 are opening Columbia Food Park, with mulitiple cuisine and beer options, in April 2017.

December 2016

Melanie Shelton ’16 together with classmates from Washington State University Vancouver, founded Strategic U, a professional student organization that helps nonprofits build brands.

November 2016

Ashlyn Salzman ’13 joined the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce as an events manager. She will coordinate events such as the Holiday Heroes Luncheon and Legislative Outlook Breakfasts. Salzman currently serves as a Clark College Alumni Association Board member and has volunteered for the farmer’s market and completed Leadership in Clark County in 2016.

October 2016

Jessica Lively ’15 joined the product design and engineering firm Sigma Design as an administrative assistant.

September 2016

Vanessa Meyer ’15 and Joanne Emel ’99 received the Clark College Exceptional Classified Staff Award from President Robert K. Knight  during a college ceremony.

August 2016

Takunda Masike ’16 received the Center for Science, Ethics, and Public Policy Research Ethics award from the University of Delaware following an internship in biomedical research he participated in during the summer.

July 2016

Candis Oliver ’14 a U.S. Army veteran, and active National Guard Reservist, joined Coldwell Banker Seal as a broker in its Vancouver West office as part of the company’s new Home from Service program. Home from Service recognizes the marketable skills veterans acquired in the military.

June 2016

Pitcher Travis Eckert ’14 signed with the Kansas City Royals on June 20, 2016, after being selected in the 7th round of the MLB draft. The 6-foot, 2-inch player was their 223rd pick. Eckert played for Clark for one season in 2014, leading the team to the South Region Championship and the top seed in NWAC’s championship tournament. That was also Clark’s banner year with 30 wins – the first time the college’s baseball team reached that mark. He transferred to Oregon State University in 2015.

Taylor Silagy ’14 was hired as a structural engineer for Firefly Space Systems, an aviation and aerospace industry company in Cedar Park, Texas. The company’s primary focus is creating low-cost, high-performance small satellite launch vehicles.

Steve Monette ’11  is Sigma Design’s new electrical engineering technician.

March 2016

Jacob Pont ’15 and Kristen Moreno welcomed a boy, Logan, born February 18, 2016.

December 2015

Nichole Noelle ’14 joined the Accounting Services department at Clark College as a fiscal techician.

October 2015

Troy Foley ’13 and Kristina Foley welcomed Kysa Susan Foley to their family on September 30, 2015.

Katheryn Whitmer ’14 and Timothy Whitmer announced the birth of their son, Harrison L. Whitmer, on September 18, 2015.

Kristine Meyer ’10 and Nolan Meyer proudly announced the birth of their littlest penguin, Kasen J. Meyer, on October 8, 2015.

September 2015

Craig Ebersole ’12 is the new program specialist in the Career and Employment Services department at Clark College.

April 2015

Elise  ’13 and Mitch Stills,  welcomed a boy, Lane Michael, on January 21. Their son weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces.