Eric E. performs at Triton Student Center

If you went to the grand opening event for the Triton Student Center, you heard musician Eric E. playing in the fireside lounge. He’s an alum. Eric Engebretson attended Edmonds CC from 1984-1985 to perform with its vocal jazz group Soundation because of the group’s “legendary reputation” (his words, not ours!). In 1985, Soundsation met in the portables, which now house the college’s Construction Industry Training program. Those buildings sure needed some construction skills.

Pictures of its leaky roof helped the college get funds to build Mill Creek Hall (much nicer digs for the music program). However, singing in the rain didn’t dampen Eric’s experience of Soundsation.

“My love for jazz came from Edmonds,” he said.

Here’s a little more about musician Eric E’s experience at Edmonds CC:

Before Edmonds CC Music was my passion, but I couldn’t imagine how to make a living as a professional musician. I figured you had to be either a high school band teacher or the next rock star — I didn't know there was anything in between.

After Edmonds CC I started my career as a professional musician. I did 250 performances a year for the next 17 years with my music taking me to 49 of the United States and 18 countries around the world.

Favorite class Soundsation. It set the bar really high for my work ethic and what I could achieve. It was all about striving for excellence. I keep in touch with the Soundsation group from that year. Half a dozen of them are making music professionally.

Advice for new students Get as much out of school as you can. It goes by fast. Study hard, and take advantage of the opportunities available to you at college. Milk it!

Advice for music students Use the recording studio! Make use of the equipment available to you as a student.

Best college experience touring Europe with Soundsation — 16 voices and a horn section — performing at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Netherlands. I don’t think I’ll ever perform again with that many excellent musicians all at once. We made sounds so beautiful, so powerful. It’s a wonderful memory that I’ll never forget.

Instrument a Breedlove C-1 Maple acoustic with Sunrise, LR Baggs, & Barcus Berry pickups

Note: Eric had a chance to visit this year’s Soundsation class during a break at his performance at the college. He says they still sound great!

If you missed Eric's performance, you can hear some demos of his music at eric-e.com and on edmondscc.ning.com.

Welcome to our growing EdmondsSphere

Welcome to the EdmondsSphere — where you’ll find stories about the people of Edmonds Community College — our students, employees, alumni, and friends and what they are doing out in the world.

Edmonds Community College, a public two-year college, is located in Lynnwood, Wash. just north of Seattle. While 90 percent of our students live within a 10 mile radius of campus, our sphere is broad and our students, alumni, employees, and partners do amazing things.

We have:
• more than 200 online classes (taken by students from other states and other countries and even while on road trips across multiple states);
• 1,265 students from 68 countries attending our college; and
• annual study abroad programs to Peru, Costa Rica, Italy, and England. There have also been recent study trips to China, India, France, and Vietnam.

In addition, we send alumni to study at schools across Washington State and throughout the United States. Learn about the corporations they work for, the companies they own, and the projects they are involved in in art, business, and community service. Hear about their graduate studies in fields including music, physics, art, chemistry, geography, and computer science at prestigious schools in Washington State, across the United States, and across the globe.

So the reach of Edmonds Community College — our EdmondsSphere — is global. It’s even bigger, more diverse, and more dynamic than what you’ll find among the 19,000 students and 900 staff you’ll find on campus — and that’s saying a lot.

Of course, Edmonds Community College is in good company — preparing today's workforce for a global economy, is what community colleges do (see articles in USA Today such as “Vietnam, other nations look to U.S.-style community colleges” and “U.S. community colleges strive to boost study-abroad programs” for example).

This EdmondsSphere blog is where you’ll hear more about Edmonds Community College’s global reach. This summer, for example, the college signed an agreement with a college in Korea, took students on a study abroad trip to volunteer with PeaceTrees Vietnam, sent English instructors to Kenya to visit an orphanage and prepare to teach a new class on East Africa, and welcomed 17 students from Egypt to study on our campus.

We’ll include stories from near and far in the EdmondsSphere about:
• students, employees, and friends of the college who are making an impact by volunteering in the community and sharing their talents and expertise;
• graduates who are small business owners, scientists, authors, musicians, chefs, and educators;
• educators who are poets, musicians, chefs, and experts in sustainability, horticulture, and technology; and
• student-athletes who go on to play for teams across the United States.

Share your stories with us at www.edcc.edu/alumstory or www.edcc.edu/yourstory or email news@edcc.edu to let us know what you’re doing out in the EdmondsSphere.