Clark College honors Class of 2009

Clark College graduate Dora Hernandez celebrates with her class. She received the President's Scholarship Award for a transfer student from Clark College to WSU Vancouver.

Clark College reached a milestone during its 75^th anniversary year as it honored the Class of 2009 at commencement ceremonies held at the Amphitheatre at Clark County last night.

The guest speaker Vail Horton was a business leader, philanthropist and advocate for persons with disabilities.  Born without legs and with improper bone growth in his arms, Horton rode a skateboard to the center of the stage and inspired the graduates as he shared his life story and reminded them that “they can be anything they want to be.” 

The ceremony also featured a video greeting from Gov. Chris Gregoire in honor of the college’s 75^th anniversary.  During the ceremony, three faculty members were honored as recipients of the 2008-2009 Exceptional Faculty awards.  The honors went to Priscila Martins-Read, professor of English as a Non-Native Language; Dr. Katherine Sadler, professor of history, and Lisa Staley, art instructor. Planning and Effectiveness Administrative Assistant Cindy Heck and Clark College Assessment Center program manager Mirranda Saari were honored as recipients of the college’s Exceptional Classified Staff award.

Dora Hernandez, who graduated with an Associate of Arts degree and is interested in pursuing studies in Human Development, received the President’s Scholarship Award for a transfer student from Clark College to Washington State University Vancouver.  Hernandez will receive full tuition and fees while they earn their bachelor’s degree at WSU Vancouver.

The evening included a special diploma presentation to World War II veteran Wilbert Kalmbach, who first took classes at Clark College in 1947.  Kalmbach noted that he never been able to take part in his high school graduation, U.S. Army graduation ceremony, or Clark’s 1969 commencement ceremony when he believed he had finally earned enough credits to graduate.  Sixty-two years after taking his first classes at Clark, he marched in commencement as a graduate and received a diploma from Clark College President Bob Knight.  He also received two standing ovations.

More than 350 students took part in the graduation ceremony.  During the 2008-2009 academic year, 1,276 men and women have earned degrees and certificates from Clark College. 

Correction
Cindy Johnson and Scott Firstenburg
appointed to YMCA board of managers

             Scott Firstenberg

Cindy Johnson, advertising account manager for the Vancouver Business Journal, and Scott Firstenburg, cash management officer at First Independent Bank, have been appointed to the board of managers of the YMCA of Clark County.

Johnson has committed many hours of support to other organizations in the community such as Big Brother Big Sister, Building Industry Association, Corporate Resource Alliance, Battle Ground Chamber of Commerce, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Women in Action Foundation, and her own networking group that she founded last year, Women In Networking.

Firstenburg serves on the boards of directors of the Council for the Homeless, Community Housing Resource Center and Leadership Clark County.

Murray announces $20 million for state transportation efforts

Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that $20,501,842 has been released in grants by the U.S. Department of Transportation for mass transit projects in Washington state. The grants were funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and will be put to use improving transportation and creating jobs in Washington state.

“Recovery funds continue to flow into Washington state, and are being put to good use in our communities creating jobs and boosting the economy,” said Senator Patty Murray.  “This mass-transit recovery funding will put people to work today, help our commuters, and keep businesses moving to sustain economic growth in the future.”

This funding comes from the nearly $700 million for Washington state transportation infrastructure that Senator Murray fought to include in the recovery package.

As the Chairman of the Transportation and Housing Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing funding for the Department of Transportation, Senator Murray worked to ensure that investments in transportation were included in the Recovery Act.  Senator Murray voted to pass the Recovery Act on February 13th. The bill was signed into law by President Obama on February 17.

Input sought for new park development

Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation and Clark County Public Works will host a public meeting about the Stanton Neighborhood Park development project on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office West Precinct classroom, 505 NW 179^th St. in Ridgefield.

 

Stanton Neighborhood Park is located at 17410 NE 29^th Ave., south of NE 179^th Street in the Fairgrounds neighborhood. The property is currently undeveloped and has a rental house on it. Preliminary planning and design work began earlier this spring. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010 if funding is available.

 

Public input is sought, and all interested neighbors are encouraged to attend. At the public meeting, project staff will present several development options for review.

 

Neighbors unable to attend the public meeting may still participate in the process. All the presentation materials will be posted on the project Web page along with an electronic comment form starting the afternoon of June 25. All comments must be received by July 8. The project Web page address is: www.clarkparks.org/projects/stanton.htm.

 

Design and construction of Stanton Neighborhood Park is funded by park impact fees, which are paid whenever new homes are built, and by the real estate excise tax, which is paid whenever property is sold. The Greater Clark Parks District, a special district approved and funded by voters in the unincorporated urban area of Clark County in 2005, will fund maintenance of the park.

 

For more information about this project, please contact Elizabeth Jordan at (360) 619-1121, or by e-mail at Elizabeth.Jordan@cityofvancouver.us.  

Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber

• City of Vancouver Calendar