Feature News Archive
Adrienne Tennison
A Centralia College energy technology student has landed her "dream job" in the energy industry, even before finishing her course requirements. That's not particularly remarkable in itself--many Centralia College programs are able to place their students in good jobs by or before graduation. The fascinating story in this case is how Adrienne Tennison, a returning student who left a solid career to explore energy technology, arrived at this milestone moment.
Tennison, a Tenino resident, earned a degree in industrial design several years ago, but found that her graphic design and engineering job just didn't satisfy her needs; she was always working outside her personal comfort zone. Tennison wanted visual and physical contact with the practical side of her career and she wasn't getting it at the investment firm where she worked. While researching new career options, Tennison discovered the burgeoning field of energy production, transmission, and distribution: the modern energy industry. "It was exactly what my visual, hands-on sort of character needed," she explained. "I've always liked a practical, visual approach that also allowed me to do some of the physical tasks that make work rewarding for me."
After contacting most of the leading energy firms and agencies in the northwest, Tennison was repeatedly advised to contact the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology at Centralia College. She did, and found just the right balance of ideology and hands-on opportunity she was seeking. Tennison took to the program like a duck to water. This spring she will begin her energy career as a substation operator apprentice at the Bonneville Power Administration's Olympia substation in Tumwater. "It simply couldn't have worked out better," Tennison reported with her characteristic enthusiasm. "I will be working near enough to my home to commute, have a hand in operating one of the most important power delivery stations in the northwest, and I'll be doing the kind of practical work I enjoy most."
Energy industry workers are among the best paid in the U.S. economy, and when Tennison completes her apprenticeship she estimated she would be compensated in the $70,000 per year bracket as a journeyman station operator. "It sure beats the little gray cubicle at the investment firm I used to work for," she laughed. Clearly, Tennison is very happy with the hands-on career outcome she's found through the Centralia College Energy Tech program.
Cal Taylor, Associate Professor of Electronics
Cal Taylor was born in Chehalis, but moved at an early age to a small town near Eureka in northern California, where he lived until his teen years. "My parents were concerned when I was about to enter the consolidated high school there," Taylor explained. "There was a lot of drug use in the area at that time, and a big percentage of high school students were involved. Given that issue, they decided to move back to Chehalis, and I think it was a great decision." Taylor graduated from W. F. West High School.
He entered Centralia College right after graduation, but only stayed for one quarter. "I was a pretty enthusiastic music student and had actually become a fairly competent musician," he recalled. "It seemed like fun, and I actually made a good living while playing in a variety of bands for the next eight years." He played country music, rock and roll, big band, swing, jazz, or whatever it took. "The market was tough," Taylor admitted, "but I was able to work full time and make a living."
The music scene--and Taylor's personal goals--began to change in about 1979. Travel got expensive, many of the music contracts were becoming marginal, and he was anxious to move on to a stable, professional life in which music would be a pleasant departure instead of a dire necessity.
"I came back to Centralia College and finished an ATA in electronics," he said. "There were good employment opportunities available, and I went right to work." He worked initially at McCaw Cable, the local cable television provider at that time, but soon got a good offer from a major calibration and repair facility in Santa Ana, California.
Once again, the local social climate wasn't heading in the direction Taylor and his family wanted. Soon, he and his wife moved back to Chehalis so his daughter could be born and raised in the environment he wanted for his family. For a while he took a mix of electronic jobs locally to make ends meet, and one of those was as an instructor-aide in the electronics technology program at Centralia College.
A permanent position opened in the fall of 1987 and Taylor applied for it. He believes becoming a faculty member at Centralia College was one of the most positive moves of his life. "I've really enjoyed teaching here," he smiled. "I've had great students, great colleagues, and have been able to develop warm relationships with other faculty and staff within the college." He was named to the college's "Exceptional Faculty" roster a few years ago.
When not teaching, Taylor still enjoys music as a part-time activity. He has played with "The Sound of Swing," a quartet, a funk and blues band, and "Jerry Owens' West Coast," a popular country band.
Taylor enjoys reading, especially the history of technology and contemporary music history. A family project about to begin is to retrace stops on the ill-fated Buddy Holly final tour, in which Holly and fellow headliners Richie Valens and The Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash. "Their last date was in Clear Lake, Iowa," Taylor said, "and the club is still there. We will try to visit each of the places they played on that final tour. It's just a bit of music history I find fascinating."
Laura Scharber
Some of the best and brightest students who come to Centralia College make extraordinary career choices early in their academic experience. A great many are able to reach their academic goals, however lofty. One such promising and ambitious young person is Laura Scharber, a second year student firmly focused on a future in the U.S. State Department, preferably in the Foreign Service.
Scharber was born in Olympia and home schooled until she entered Academy Northwest in Winlock for high school. "I enjoyed the Academy experience immensely," she said. "It allowed me more time to study in my areas of greatest interest while still fulfilling my academic needs." Her immediate goals are to major in political science and to study foreign languages. She is currently studying French and Hebrew. "I hope to get a chance to study Hebrew in a synagogue or other Jewish school," she explained. "I would really like to work in a state department job in Israel."
Scharber was the first generation of her family born outside the New York City environment of her family ancestry. "In the neighborhoods where my parents and grandparents grew up," Scharber said, "there were Italians, other Europeans, and Jewish families on the same block, and marriage between the cultures was really rather common. As a result, families might adopt the ethnic practice of one side, but not reject the religious or cultural beliefs of the other." She paused a moment. "That's sort of where I am," she laughed. "I grew up in a Christian home but still have a deep desire to understand my Jewish heritage."
Sharber came to Centralia College for the two primary reasons most students choose it. It is convenient to the family home and offers a top-class education at a fraction of the cost of resident colleges and universities elsewhere. She's certainly prepared academically for a four-year university; Scharber is one of the two Centralia College representatives on this year's All-USA, All Washington academic team. "We'd been told Centralia College was an excellent choice," Scharber said, "and I found that to be the case. I am especially happy with the consideration the students receive in class. We get a well-rounded education while we are treated with respect."
Scharber had high regard for her teachers as well. "They have the freedom to introduce material that will challenge our minds, but they manage to maintain a good balance and perspective in the classroom." For someone contemplating a career in the volatile Middle East, balance and perspective are important qualities to recognize. When she isn't pursuing her studies or career preparation, Scharber enjoys reading--especially about language and culture--or going to foreign films. It's sometimes hard to tell where academic work drops off and relaxation begins. For Laura Scharber, it really doesn't matter; she thoroughly enjoys working toward her goals.
Jody Kline
Centralia native Jody Kline is one of those gifted individuals who always seem to progress faster than those around her. She was home-schooled and came to Centralia College as a "Running Start" student. She'll earn her Associate's degree at an age when most of her contemporaries are just graduating from high school.
Kline also decided on her career goals when she was quite young. At the age of 12, she joined family members on a relief mission to Fiji. Her mom is a nurse, and when young Jody saw how much a nurse could do to help people in a developing country her mind was made up.
Now a second-year nursing student, Kline has since watched her mom in action in other global hotspots, and each time she joined her family for a health outreach, her decision was further reinforced. "We went to the coast of Thailand to help survivors of the huge tsunami," she explained. "The roads, towns, and most of the homes were totally destroyed, but we were still able to bring a degree of health and comfort to those who suffered." She paused as she recalled the extent of the destruction. "It looked like we imagined the area appeared centuries ago," she continued. "There was just dirt, and trees, and the ocean. But we were still able to bring a lot of relief to the people caught in that tragedy."
Perhaps the scene that finally cemented her plans for the future came when she joined her family on a church outreach mission to Senegal, one of the intense human tragedies unfolding in Africa. She learned that health care delivery, coupled with a grass-roots teaching component, could achieve long-lasting results in even the most desolate of human conditions.
Kline is planning to go to Seattle Pacific University to earn her bachelor of science in Nursing, specializing in pediatrics. "I've had these dreams and goals for a long time," Kline confided, "and this kind of humanitarian work is where I intend to focus. Centralia College has given me the tools and opportunities to grow in the direction I want, and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the faculty and administration since I've been here. It's been an amazing experience for me."
Kline has sought a range of experiences in college and has succeeded with her customary enthusiasm. She is president of the Associated Students of Centralia College and a member of the college's elite All-Washington Academic Team and is a candidate for the All-USA Today Academic Team. She will be honored in March when Governor Gregoire presents team members with medallions recognizing the classroom, community, and in Kline's case, international accomplishments of these students. With such a background of focus, enthusiasm, and personal commitment, it seems that Kline will handle her future as nurse/education with similar success.
Pat Pringle, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences
After a conversation with assistant professor of earth sciences, Pat Pringle, one is apt to come away with two distinct, indelible impressions. One is of unbridled curiosity and the other of undimmed enthusiasm. After more than three decades in his chosen field, Pringle remains as passionate about the workings of the earth as ever.
Pringle was born and raised in the American Midlands, receiving a bachelor's degree in natural science from Akron University. After a stint with the Ohio Environmental Agency and work in offshore oil geology, Pringle returned to Akron University to earn a master's degree in earth sciences.
A period of doctoral study was left unfinished when Pringle came to Washington on a visit to Mt. St. Helens. A specialist in post-eruptive volcanic geology, Pringle was excited about the chance to see some of the effects of a contemporary, major eruption--something that few professional U.S. geologists had ever had an opportunity to observe. When he was offered a job with the U.S. Geologic Survey, he immediately accepted. He would work at the Cascade Volcanic Observatory (CVO) until 1990, chronicling the unexpected but robust recovery processes taking place in the blast zone as the earth healed.
"There was a lot more to it than any of us realized," Pringle explained. "For example, we studied the sediment that held back Spirit Lake. There were layers of volcanic ash as deep as 33 feet in the natural dam, and we knew those layers weren't competent to hold back such an enormous weight of water."
Geologists and engineers devised a plan to dig a trench to hold a huge pipe, which would be used to pump out most of the volume of the lake, eliminating the potential for another catastrophic flood down the Toutle River. Pringle later wrote The Roadside Geology of Mount St. Helens and Vicinity, as well as dozens of scientific papers on the effects of the latest eruption of the mountain. He's presently working on a companion book, The Roadside Geology of Mount Rainier.
Pringle joined the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Division of Geology, in 1990. His interest in radiocarbon dating and tree ring counts to date late stage eruptions in the Cascade Range led him to an active part in the U.N. Mount Rainier Decade Volcano demonstration project. "Throughout all this," Pringle acknowledged, "my interest continued to grow in sharing what I'd learned and helping people understand the incredible power and potential of modern volcanic incidents." He taught basic geology at Clark College and South Puget Sound Community College and continued to write and meet with community groups and local government leaders concerned with the possibility of volcanic impacts to those living in the shadows of the big mountains.
"Eventually," Pringle explained, "the public outreach function became a low priority for the state DNR, and I believed that the best protection people have against natural disaster is knowledge." So he left the state agency and applied for a position at Centralia College. "I was offered a contract on May 18," Pringle laughed, "exactly 25 years to the day after Mount St. Helens blew. And then," he continued, "They asked me to be at the college at 8:30 a.m. to discuss the terms. That was 25 years to the minute after the first major eruption of St. Helens. It all seemed really bizarre."
He considered the odd timing an omen of sorts, either for good or bad. Judging from his delight with Centralia College and the enthusiasm he brings to his students, it's definitely been for the best!
Brenda Mendez
Brenda Mendez is a second-year academic transfer student from Elma. She's enthusiastic about the opportunities she's received at Centralia College and is a tireless volunteer helping other Hispanic students explore their college options. "I think we need to try and reach Hispanic students earlier," she suggested. "A lot of them either want to just go out and get a job after high school, or else they want to get married and start a family. Either way," she explained, "it's hard for them to ever get back to a school environment."
Mendez was a top student at Elma High School, and her teachers continually encouraged her to enroll in college. She qualified for a scholarship at Centralia College, but confesses her choice was made when she attended the first Latino Youth Summit, also on the Centralia campus. "I really learned a lot about Centralia College at the youth summit," Mendez explained, "and everyone was so helpful while I was here. The enrollment process was student-friendly, and staff at the Youth Summit helped my transition into college with no difficulty."
She's convinced she made the best possible choice. "I knew from the start I wanted to be a teacher," Mendez smiled. "I wanted to be able to give back to the community for everything I've gotten. I'm very happy with my classes at Centralia College," she continued, "and my teachers have encouraged me to keep on pursuing a teaching career."
Mendez was a volunteer for the fourth Latino Youth Summit in October, held at St. Martin's University in Lacey. "This year there were over 350 Hispanic students at the Summit," she reported. "A lot of those will come to college because of the outreach, and I think a lot will make the decision to come to Centralia College."
True to form. Mendez was elected president of the newly formed Latinos Unidas student club on the campus, and she continues to help Hispanic students find their way to college. The new club members worked on the Youth Summit this fall, will be part of one of the International Club's popular "Cultural Café" events this winter, and in the spring will attend the annual Students of Color conference.
Mendez expects to attend WSU at Pullman to continue degree studies leading to a career in teaching, but she plans to return to the local area to work. "There's so much to do here," Mendez explained. "And I want the chance to help guide other Hispanic students to a better future. Centralia College is a great place to start!"