Does every vote really count? Phil Nelson, from his personal experience, gives an emphatic, “Yes!” It was 1968 when Nelson, a Grants Pass local, heard Marjorie Holzgang give a talk at North’s Chuck Wagon. The topic: create a community college. He was sold. Soon after, Bill Ford—who would later be a county commissioner—joined the effort. These three “founders” worked tirelessly to createRogue Community College. “We... Read more
Rogue Community College is proud to announce Lynn Eccleston as the 2020 recipient of the RCC Outstanding Citizen Award for distinguished service to the college and community. Eccleston was recognized during the RCC Commencement on June 13. Eccleston is principal of New Bridge High School in Grants Pass. This unique school is a partnership between the Three Rivers School District and Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility, run... Read more
On June 13, 2020, Rogue Community College bid farewell to 699 deserving graduates in 34 different fields of study in an online commencement ceremony. They will enter the workforce or continue at universities equipped with valuable skills and knowledge obtained during their many months as RCC students. We wish them great success as they embark on careers that will make a positive impact on their... Read more
By Marina Whitchurch, Public Speaking Instructor Spring 2020 will go down in history. For certain. For a multitude of reasons. But I don’t want to begin where you think I might… Gratitude is something that I’ve been taking more time to acknowledge lately. In this time of uncertainty, it’s been helpful for me to slow down and identify those areas of my life for which... Read more
Ted Wise is a skilled Intensive Care nurse at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center. With an associate degree in nursing from RCC, he not only got a job offer before graduation but is also on track to continue working toward his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing. He has big plans for his career. But those plans weren’t always so clear. More than a decade... Read more
Karl Sorenson’s short documentary “The Old Man of Crater Lake” has been named a finalist in the college undergrad category in the 19th annual Ashland Independent Film Festival’s Launch Student Film Competition. A student in the RCC Design + Digital Media program, Sorenson chose to shed light on a local story that he had grown up hearing. The Old Man of Crater Lake refers to a 30-foot hemlock stump that... Read more
By Holly Hertel, Reference Librarian, Riverside Campus Did you know that the osprey is your college mascot? And did you further know that ospreys live in the Rogue Valley? I love ospreys! Not a lot of people in this valley realize that ospreys live here during the summer and fall and so never look for them. If you haven’t seen an osprey, but would like... Read more
By Marina Whitchurch, Public Speaking Instructor Last year my wife and I had a conversation about my going back to school to get my Ph.D. I told her, after much thought and reflection, that I did not want to be a student again. I felt I had passed some sort of invisible threshold that, for myself, wouldn’t allow me to keep up with today’s use... Read more
Where were you in 1999? While the world partied Prince-style and braced for Y2K, Colleen Padilla was graduating from RCC as Business Student of the Year. Now two decades later, she’s receiving another distinguished honor—the 2020 RCC Outstanding Alum Award, granted by the RCC Foundation. As executive director of Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development, Inc. (SOREDI), Colleen is a champion for launching and growing prosperous... Read more
Tense muscles? Armando Garcia has the cure. As the co-founder of River Stone Massage & Wellness in Grants Pass, Armando is devoted to improving his clients’ quality of life through massage therapy—a skill he gained at Rogue Community College. “I decided to go back to school for the massage therapy program as it was the natural and most logical progression to increase my scope of... Read more