Freedom School alum is school board adviser

Last summer, Edmonds Community College hosted Freedom School, a workshop about race and racism aimed at undoing institutional racism in our educational system. One of the participants was Edmonds-Woodway High School student Juan Marin. Now, a senior at Edmonds-Woodway, Juan serves as a student adviser representing his school on the Edmonds School Board. 

Read the article, "Edmonds-Woodway student adviser a voice for Latinos," in The Edmonds Beacon. In the article, Juan says he plans to study engineering. How about here?

Alumna at Purdue: Way to go, Coco!

This just in — We keep hearing great things about our alumna Kaoutar Abbou Oucherif (she goes by Coco). After she graduated with her Associate of Science, Coco went on to study chemical engineering at New Mexico Tech. There, she helped resurrect the school's Chemical Engineering Car competition team which finished third in regional competition and was one of three undergraduates recognized for outstanding achievements and received a $5,000 scholarship from Macey Scholars Programs. Then, we heard she'd completed a summer research project in particle design at Purdue University in Indiana. Now, we hear she's received a scholarship to go on for her master's degree at Purdue. Fantastic! When Coco was graduating from Edmonds CC she told us her goal was a Ph.D. It sounds like she is on her way!

By the way, if you are a current student looking for a four-year school to attend after Edmonds CC, check out the University Transfer Fair, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Mon., Oct. 26 in the Snoqualmie and Brier hall lobbies. More than 40 schools will be on hand — and, for those of you ready to follow Coco's lead, that does include Purdue.

Kudos to Michelle Butler for getting published!

Our very own student programming guru Michelle Butler published an article in the National Association of Campus Activities magazine Campus Activities Programming. Her article, Build It, So They Will Come: A Community College Lecture Series Model in the October 2009 issue, discusses the trials and tribulations of building a successful and sustainable community college lecture series. Michelle, who serves as the program manager in the Office of Student Life, has been spearheading the lecture series for four years now.

The college's lecture series, previously known as the "Brown Bag Lecture Series," runs throughout the school year. Many of the lectures are recorded and archived on the college's iTunesU site. Videos of more than 100 lectures, going back as far as 2003, can be watched online or downloaded.

Attend a lecture this year! The next lecture will take place at 12:30 p.m., Oct. 21 in the Black Box Theatre in Mukilteo Hall. Comedian, actor, producer, and director, Teja Arboleda will present a talk on the Ethnic Man. Arboleda, of African-American/Native-American, Filipino-Chinese, and German Danish descent (he also grew up in Japan), is the president of Entertaining Diversity, Inc., which focuses on diversity issues programming in the U.S.

You can find out the what, where, when, and why about the lecture series at www.edcc.edu/lectures.

Instructor in the news: Beyond Forgetting

It was fun to hear a familiar voice on KUOW Presents on Sat., Oct. 3 — Edmonds Community College English instructor Holly Hughes talked about the anthology she edited Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose About Alzheimer's Disease with host Jeannie Yandel. Many on campus have been touched by Holly's poetry about caring for her mother, Colleen Lindsay Hughes, who died of Alzheimer's in 2001. If you missed the show on Sat., you can still listen to Holly tell about compiling, Beyond Forgetting, and hear her read her poem, "The Bath" online.

Alum-athlete in the news: Basketball player inducted into Kitsap Hall of Fame

Pam (Clark) Marquardt will be inducted into the Kitsap Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday reports Terry Mosher in the Kitsap Sun article, "Former NK Star Was 'Moses Malone' of Her Era". Clark played basketball at Edmonds Community College with coach Keith Kingsbury.

Students in the news: Miss Washington contestants attend Edmonds CC

Among the students on campus this fall are two contestants in Miss Washington USA pageants to be held October 11 and 12 at the Highline Performing Arts Center in Burien. Mahsa Mehrab, the current Miss Mountlake Terrace, will compete in the Miss Washington USA Pageant and Brooke Griffin, the current Miss Puget Sound Teen, will compete for Miss Washington Teen. 

Read the article, "Teens compete for state titles" in The Enterprise. It's accompanied by a great picture taken by Enterprise photographer Chris Goodenow of the students in front of our newly opened campus sculpture Reach by artist Lorna Jordan. Here's to having a campus that's as photogenic as our students.