Orv Iverson named Clark
College outstanding alumnus

Orv Iverson created a legend for himself, his students, and his successors during his 32-year career as a debate coach and communications instructor at Clark College. He built a reputation for Clark College as a dominant community college in the northwest for forensics.

Clark College and its alumni association honored Iverson on Tuesday as the recipient of the 2009 Clark College Outstanding Alumni Award. The award was presented during the annual Alumni-Student dinner.

Iverson joins a select number of Clark alumni to be recognized. They include former State Sen. Al Bauer, environmentalist Denis Hayes, former Congressman Don Bonker, and retired Colonel Nancy Wessels Henderson. A complete listing of past recipients may be found at http://www.clarkcollegefoundation.org.

Iverson estimates that, in the course of his 32 years of teaching, he contributed to the education of more than 10,000 students. Of those, an estimated 500 were students who went through the Clark College forensics program. Many of these students progressed to earn higher degrees and employment in illustrious careers. “People who participate on debate teams are smart,” said Iverson. “They are very well read, retain information and facts, and can speak convincingly on a variety of topics.”

“I’ve heard nothing but praise for what Orv Iverson has done at Clark,” said George Welsh, president of the Clark College Alumni Association Board. “That’s the wonderful thing about the college. It is our people—students, staff, and faculty—who make Clark College so great.”

From 1970 to 1998, Iverson’s debate teams racked up 22 championships in the Washington State community college speech/debate competitions and 15 championships in the Northwest community college regional contests.

For more than 20 years, Iverson was chair of the Clark College speech and theater department and a member of the faculty senate. Iverson was the only community college faculty member to serve as president of the Northwest Forensic Conference.

Mark Matthias will keynote
Leadership Clark County graduation

Leadership Clark County will hold the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2009 at 7:00 p.m. Friday, June 12, at Washington State University Vancouver.

This year’s class of 35 joins more than 460 local residents from the program in its 16 years of training new leaders for our community.

The keynote speaker is Mark Matthias, owner of Beaches Restaurant and First Citizen 2008. Michael Bomar, from the BIA is the Class of 2009 speaker.

The graduates have successfully completed a ten month program which included the completion of a group project designed to benefit various public sectors and non-profits throughout Clark County.

The 2009 Leadership Clark County graduates are: Darcy Altizer, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce; Jeanie Ashe, Columbia River Economic Development Council; Steve Bacon, Clark Regional Wastewater District; Rich Bailey, Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt; Kate Benson, Cascade Pacific Council, Boy Scouts; Mike Bomar, BIA of Clark County; Katy Brooks, Port of Vancouver USA; Sharif Burdzik, First Independent; Lisa Costa, Keller Williams; Scott Deutsch, Evergreen Public Schools; Jaci Erickson, iQ Credit Union; Eric Golemo, Sturtevant, Golemo, and Associates; Ryan Golze, Van Mall Retirement; Antonio Gomez, Hewlett Packard; Ron Gompertz, Hewlett Packard; Meredith Green, Iron Mountain; Jeff Groff, Clark Public Utilities; Jennifer Halleck, Vancouver School District; Susan Hartman, First Independent; Steve Hogan, City of Camas; Rob Katsuno, Ameriprise Financial; Steve Korn, RSV Construction Services, Inc.; Melissa Kreuder, ESD 112; Temple Lentz, Proof Communications; Cherylee Mircovich, Clark County Title; Ken Moody, Norris, Beggs, Simpson; Shyla Nelson, Camas Police Department; Rob Palena, MacKay & Sposito, Inc.; Ahmad Qayoumi, City of Vancouver; Linda Reid, West Coast Bank; Travis Smith, Clark County Fire & Rescue; Jeff Taylor, Pacific Continental Bank; Travis Tormanen, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants; Pamela Weatherspoon, Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest; Paul Wienecke, Clark Public Utilities.

For further information, call 567-1085.

Undo

The correct telephone number to call about a vacancy on the Vancouver Urban Forestry board is 487-8612, reports Myk Heidt, who is in charge of collecting applications for a vacancy on the board.

Calendar

Evergreen Public Schools is holding a live Webcast from 6 to 7 p.m. today to discuss an estimated $9 million in likely budget reductions. Superintendent John Deeder and Chief Financial Officer Mike Merlino will host the Webcast.To log on to the Webcast, go to www.evergreenps.org. The call-in number will be provided at the start of the Webcast, to be simulcast on Comcast cable television channels 28 and 29.

Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber

• City of Vancouver Calendar