Clark College opens its
doors to record number of students
Clark College President Bob Knight (left) and
Clark health & physical education instructor Dave Caldwell (center)
welcome students on the first day of classes at the college’s newest
facility, Clark College at Columbia Tech Center. The new building,
which opened Monday Sept. 21, will be dedicated on Sept. 28.
As
fall quarter 2009 begins, Clark College welcomed 15,169 students for
classes Monday compared to last year's fall enrollment of 12,359
students.
Enrollment increases have been reported at all Clark facilities. On
opening day, at the school’s Columbia Tech Center 1,200 students
instead of the projected 750 showed up, and fifteen students are
currently taking classes in the new weekend degree program.
Clark also now has the largest Running Start program in the state,
with 1,609 students.
Plans for a new building devoted to science, technology, engineering
and math are currently underway. They call for groundbreaking in
2011, with the building to open in 2013 at the corner of Fort
Vancouver Way and Mill Plain Blvd. Options for a new facility in
Northern Clark County are also being explored.
Flu
symptoms prompt renewed plea to parents
Cases of suspected H1N1 flu have been reported in the
Portland-Vancouver area in recent days. In the Battle Ground School
District, the reports have prompted district officials to remind and
urge parents to keep their children home if symptoms are present.
“The message here is that in over half of our schools we are seeing
an increase in flu-like symptoms in students visiting the health
rooms,” says Jane Mercier,
Battle Ground’s director of special education, who oversees school
nurses. “We are continuing to prepare for higher levels of absences
and are asking for parents’ help.”
At
Battle Ground High, which has an enrollment of 2,126, a typical
absentee number this year had been about 250, but beginning late
last week that number increased and was at 376 pupils today, with 40
of those known to have flu-like symptoms. One teacher at BGHS was
home with a confirmed case of H1N1, but only two of the students
home with symptoms were in his classes.
The district’s lead nurse, Jeanne
Snow, has reminded parents to keep their children home from
school if they display flu-like symptoms, which include fever,
cough, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some guidelines
suggest that those with the flu stay home until they have been
fever-free for 24 hours, but Battle Ground schools have adopted a
higher standard and urge students and employees to remain home until
they have been free of all symptoms for 24 hours.
People
The Washington State Bar Association (WSBA)
announced that Clark County Superior Court Judge
Robert L. Harris, of
Vancouver, will be honored with the 2009 Lifetime Service Award.
Mark Johnson, WSBA president,
will present the award at the WSBA annual awards dinner, to be held
on September 24, 2009, at the Hyatt at Olive 8 in Seattle. Harris
received his undergraduate degree from Washington State University,
and his law degree from the University of Washington School of Law
in 1958. He clerked for the chief justice of the Washington State
Supreme Court in 1959 and, after his clerkship, became a deputy
Clark County prosecuting attorney from 1959 to 1970. In 1979, Judge
Harris was appointed to the Clark County Superior Court, and he has
sat on the bench since then. Harris has devoted three decades of
service to Clark County citizens, making him the longest-serving
superior court judge in the state.
<> R. Wayne Branch will take
office as president of American Humanics in November. Branch, who
currently advises a higher education technology consulting firm,
formerly served as president of Clark College in Vancouver, WA, and
as president and chief academic officer for the Community College of
Baltimore County Essex Campus in Baltimore, Md. Branch brings over
25 years’ higher education, workforce development and civic
leadership experience to the position. Branch holds a bachelor’s
degree in sociology from West Virginia State College and a master’s
and doctoral degrees in counselor education from the University of
Pittsburgh. American Humanics oversees a national alliance of
colleges, universities and nonprofits dedicated to preparing the
next generation of nonprofit leaders. To learn more about American
Humanics, visit
www.humanics.org. Branch also has a book entitled
High School Is Not Enough: Helping
Students Take the Next Step in Their Lives, scheduled for
release early in 2010.
News Brief
Today and
continuing through Sept. 26, Vancouver Pizza will be giving a
portion of its sales to Share Our Strength's Great American Dineout,
which supports local community programs that provide help to
children at risk of hunger in America. For more information, visit
Great American Dineout. <>
The Washougal Fire Department will be hosting an open house from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. There will be an extrication
demonstration, Police K-9 demonstration, E.D.I.T.H. (Emergency Drill
In the Home) exhibit for kids, car seat checks, and station and
apparatus tours. Free hot dogs, ice cream and popcorn will also be
served. Call Aireanna Baldwin
at 835-2211 or email her at
abaldwin@washougalfire.org,
for more information.
<>
Washington State University Vancouver's Diversity Council welcomes
the community to the Diversity Film Festival at 4 p.m. Wednesday,
Sept. 30, in the Multimedia Classroom building, Room 6, for
Punk's Not Dead.
Punk's Not Dead traces the
origins of the punk movement in the 1970s U.K. and U.S. Parking is
available at parking meters or in the Blue Daily Pay lot for $3. The
Diversity Film Festival runs through October 1. For a synopsis of
each movie and show times, visit
www.vancouver.wsu.edu/diversityfilmfestival.
<>
Vancouver’s Farmers Market is holding its First Annual Harvest
Dinner and Auction from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7. Festivities
will be held at the Historic Reserves, E.B. Hamilton Hall, 605 E
Barnes Street. Tickets are $50 per person with all proceeds
benefiting the Farmer's Market and its scholarship fund. For more
information, visit
http://www.vancouverfarmersmarket.com.
Calendar
House Representative
Deb Wallace will be a guest
speaker at the next Battle Ground Cultural Task Force meeting being
held from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Battleground
Community Center, 912 East Main Street, Battleground WA. All are
welcome to attend. <>
La Center Planning Commission meets from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight, Sept.
22, La Center City Hall, 214 E. 4th Street.
<>
A monthly meeting of the bicycle advocacy group
is being held at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 23, in the Wallis
Engineering Building, 215 W 4th Street. For more information, call
253-1742.
<>Port
of Ridgefield is holding a three-day Waterfront Planning Tour
traveling through Seattle to North Vancouver, B.C., Monday through
Wednesday, September 21-23. The regular meeting for Sept. 23 has
been moved to Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Tuesday on the air
Seattle
Mariners at Tampa Bay (live)—4 p.m. FSN, KFXX
Statement of Support Signing Ceremony (9-18)—5 p.m. CVTV
City Minutes (9-20)—5:44 p.m. CVTV
C-Tran Board of Directors Meeting (9-15)—6:30 p.m. CVTV
H1N1 (Swine Flu): Coordinating a Regional Response in Southwest
Washington (9-18)—8:30 p.m. CVTV
Nicole Cooke go getter. <>Jim
and Liz
Luce speaking of
appreciation . <>Scott
Miller advising. <>Lexi
Laughton painting the walls
green. <>Gregg
Herrington making it known.
<>Tuesday,
mostly sunny, 54-94. Wednesday,
sunny, 55-87. Thursday,
sunny, 51-76.Cick here for additional local weather information.
For
weather facts click on Pat Timm's Weather blog below
