From the Desk of Andrea Spirtos

Foundation Development Director



The biggest news from the OCCC Foundation is that the third annual Pearls of Wisdom – almost live was an outstanding success, exceeding all expectations. As Dr. Birgitte Ryslinge stated, “I was cautiously optimistic.” We all were. 



Moving from a live event to one that was virtual gave rise to all kinds of concerns and a great deal of uncertainty. Thanks to the Foundation Board, all of whom served on the Pearls Committee in some capacity, a great deal of assistance from OCCC staff and faculty, amazing volunteers, caring and giving sponsors, donations, and truly generous guests, the Foundation surpassed its goal for OCCC student scholarships and program support. 

A donor who means weld

As a direct result of the publicity for Pearls, appearing in Oregon Coast TODAY, the OCCC Welding program is receiving the donation of a Lincoln Ideal Arc PS250 Welder from David Cohen. Thank you, David! This is a much-needed addition to the Welding program, which features programs in Toledo and Lincoln City.

Surprise donation spawns excitement

Judy Gibbons, widow of world-renowned artist Michael Gibbons, surprised the Foundation with the donation of Ella Salmonella, a 40” fish sculpture on a wood and rock base to be used as a future fundraising event.



Watch for future information regarding the opportunity to own Ella. She is truly one of a kind. {Watch a video about Ella, featuring Judy Gibbons.}

Honoring our scholars

For the first time in the history of the Foundation, the Board recognizes and congratulates with a cash award each of OCCC’s two representatives on the All Oregon Academic Team. Congratulations, Melissa Hernandez-Pacheco and Cora Kehr! We are very proud of you. 

This issue of Rising Tide includes a spotlight on the “Teach at the Beach” education pathway written by Foundation Board member, Sandi Williams; spotlight on two remarkable; Board members, Nancy Osterlund and Billie Jo Smith; the Karen E. Driscoll Memorial Scholarship and Linda Mollino who has been a Foundation donor for many years through the Employee Giving program. 

We hope you take time to read the articles and enjoy. As always, we look forward to your comments. Please email Andi Spirtos at [email protected] with your suggestions on this and future issues of Rising Tide.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR. . .

May 7, 2021 – Foundation Scholarship Committee deliberates

June 11, 2021 – Nurse Pinning Ceremony

June 11, 2021 – Graduation

June 22, 2021 – Summer Term begins

July 5, 2021 – Independence Day observed – campus closed

July 15, 2021 – next issue of Rising Tide

September 15, 2021 – Summer Term ends

End of Summer – Ella Salmonella Raffle ends - Stay tuned for details

A Word from the President

Birgitte Ryslinge, PhD

Dear Friends of Oregon Coast Community College,

I hope you enjoy this second issue of Rising Tide, celebrating supporters like yourself and our hard-working students. Rising Tide also highlights various programs that make OCCC such an important part of the fabric of Lincoln County. In this issue, the spotlight is on our “Rural Teachers Education Pathway,” also known as “Teach at the Beach.”

Together with the Lincoln County School District, we envisioned this important degree option in 2017 and together sought funding from a number of grantors to get the program started. The community response has been excellent. As a small community college, we do not have the resources or enrollments to offer all the career options you might find at a larger urban college. We are careful and thoughtful in choosing the career pathways we offer. Employment demand and a family living wage are important considerations in our choices. We have intentionally expanded options over the past 6 years, augmenting our excellent programs in Nursing and Aquarium Science by adding Business, more options in Allied Health, Teaching, and most recently Welding.

While these career focused certificates and degrees are very popular with students and employers, the single most common goal of students at OCCC remains to complete a two-year degree and then transfer to complete a bachelor’s degree at a university. This is a very smart choice for students and families, as two years at a community college provides an excellent education from highly qualified faculty whose life work is teaching, at a cost significantly less expensive than the four-year alternatives. Through financial aid programs such as Pell Grants and Oregon Promise combined with the generous support of scholarship donors to help with books and living expenses and lost wages, a college degree (or shorter-term certificate) is within the grasp of so many in our community. And it is more important than ever. 

However, the past year of COVID restrictions has been particularly hard on community college students. Across the state, enrollments are down over 20% and Lincoln County is no exception. In order to keep students and staff safe, and remain in compliance with evolving pandemic guidelines, students have been mostly remote for a full year. This year forced hard choices for those with lost jobs, children out of school, poor access to broadband and technology, and concerns about the health of themselves and family members. 



At OCCC we offered all kinds of support programs (emergency funds, loaner laptops, places to study) but for many it just became too much. As we look forward to a Fall of most of our classes returning to in-person options, we keep the students that weren’t able to persevere front and center in our planning. Between now and Fall 2021 (and beyond) we intend to focus on outreach, support and learning what we can do to make education affordable, accessible, and successful for everyone in Lincoln County. There is recovery ahead, and I know this community doesn’t want to leave anyone behind.

Have you heard about the project to grow our own teachers here in Lincoln and Tillamook Counties? The Rural Teacher Education Pathway Project (RTEPP) is a coastal effort that opens doors towards earning a certificate or degree in education. RTEPP is aimed at connecting individuals who have heard the call to teach with the opportunity to engage in transformational teaching opportunities here in our community.

Oregon Coast Community College student Jamie Martinson is one of the growing number of program participants

“I am a wife, mom and work full time," Jamie said. "My goal is to be an elementary school teacher. I am very thankful that OCCC offers education classes."

Dan Lara, OCCC’s Dean of Academics and Workforce, explained that RTEPP lends stability to the local workforce, and creates a cadre of teaching professionals who reflect changing demographics of our coastal communities.

Local students interested in the Education program can start in high school and transfer those credits to OCCC or Tillamook Bay Community College. Larenda Bennett is just one of the students who appreciate the program.

“I would not have been able to return to college if not for Education classes offered at OCCC," Larenda said. Another student, Jessica Fantroy (pictured, below), echoed the sentiment. “Getting my prep classes done at OCCC is a huge blessing. I am able to stay in the coast community while getting the education to use as a teacher here.” 

The program involves a two-year transfer degree here at Oregon Coast or at TBCC. Students then transfer to Western Oregon University or Oregon State for a third year as they work towards their bachelor's degree. In the fourth year, they return home to continue their studies while working as student teachers.



Theresa Harper (pictured, above), Education Faculty and Academic Advisor for the program, reports that, now that the program is wrapping up its third year, six students will be returning home from Western as student teachers for the upcoming Fall term. Harper also reports that fully 22 students have self-identified as pre-K-12 Education – a clear sign of the program's growing popularity.

Seven students expect to complete pre-Education requirements this spring and transfer to WOU or OSU in the Fall. OCCC plans to offer the Associate Arts Oregon Transfer (AAOT) Elementary Education degree starting Fall 2021. Additionally, there are 13 students at OCCC who are on the non-licensure pathway in Early Childhood Education, soon to bolster the critical – and all too scarce – resource of high-quality child care in Lincoln County.

Dr. Teresa Rivenes, Vice President of Instruction at TBCC, said three Tillamook County students have completed the Education program. Beginning Summer of 2021, TBCC will offer two Education courses taught directly to bilingual students to reach bi-cultural and Latinx population.

Lincoln County School District, TBCC, and OCCC have tirelessly supported these efforts through financial investments and contributions of many talented support staff, faculty, and administrators. But the anchor point is having visionary leadership at the top in the form of LCSD Superintendent Dr. Karen Gray, TBCC President Dr. Ross Tomlin, and OCCC President Dr. Birgitte Ryslinge.

The cost for this project is supported by general fund, grants, and scholarships. TBCC and OCCC share instructors and classes to keep the cost of delivering the program down for each college.



Thank you, donors and friends, for your continued contributions to support this Education program.  

Billie Jo Smith serves on the OCCC Foundation Board, the Foundation Scholarship Committee, and was co-chair of the recent Pearls of Wisdom fundraising event which was an unprecedented success. Here is what Billie Jo has to say.

When I was a student, I loved biology. That was all I wanted to study. I was fascinated by nature – plants, animals, rivers and oceans. As a teacher I shared this love with my students. When I moved to the Oregon Coast in 1976, I was able to explore marine environments with students and teachers. Consequently, I am thrilled that OCCC has a wonderful Aquarium Science program.

I was born in Kansas City, Missouri. After high school graduation, I enrolled in William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri and majored in biology. I loved science so much that I took every course. With no additional biology courses available, I decided to pursue secondary education classes. In retrospect, that was a good choice. I discovered a love for teaching. I received a BA in Biology and Education and later, a MS in Biology from the University of Michigan.

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OCCC Students Selected to All-Oregon Academic Team

Selected through a competitive application process, Melissa Hernandez-Pacheco and Cora Kehr were announced as Oregon Coast Community College’s members of the All-Oregon Academic Team. This marks the second consecutive year that the COVID-19 pandemic has canceled the All-Oregon Academic Team luncheon, at which these two students along with their counterparts from Community Colleges across the state would have been honored in person by Governor Kate Brown.

“As much as we’d love to see our students receive the full recognition they deserve with a special day at the Capitol, we refuse to let COVID-19 take anything away from the accomplishments of these two amazing OCCC Sharks,” said OCCC President Dr. Birgitte Ryslinge. “Their accomplishments are even more impressive given the circumstances in this challenging year. Melissa and Cora are emblematic of the drive and determination shown by so many of their classmates. All of Lincoln County is proud of their achievement.” 

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“How can I ask the community to support the OCCC Foundation if I don’t give?” asks Linda Mollino, Director, Allied Health Programs, and prior longtime director of the OCCC Nursing Department.

Linda shares a little of her background...

I was born in Bronxville, New York and lived in New York until I graduated from college in 1977. Most of my young life was spent in foster care. I had a number of healthcare issues when I was young, and spent weeks over the years in and out of hospitals. One constant was the kindness of each nursing staff. I knew then that I wanted to be part of the nursing profession and give back.

It was during my time working as a nursing assistant—before starting college—that a nurse at the facility recommended that I get a Bachelor’s in Nursing (BSN) and then a Master’s in Nursing (MSN). “It would open so many doors,” she said, and she was correct. I have had an amazing career over the past 44 years

I decided on Mount Saint Mary College in Newburgh, New York for my BSN. I chose this program because they focused on giving back to the community through a variety of means including volunteerism, but primarily focused on community health nursing.

My brother moved to Southern California when I was a sophomore in College and upon graduation, I decided to join him and the rest of the family. 



After graduation, I began my career as a nurse working in a variety of settings including home health and hospice—I found that I loved that work and knew that it would be part of the cornerstone of my career. Ten years later, I moved to San Francisco, and returned to my alternate love, the field of community health. This was the peak of the AIDS crisis. Community-based nursing was of vital importance to these clients.

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Donor Spotlight:

Friends of Otter Rock create Karen E. Driscoll Memorial Scholarship

How do you honor someone who fully embraced a lifelong love of marine science, passionately and voluntarily provided stewardship to the Pacific Ocean, marine reserve preservation and ecological education? This is precisely the dilemma faced by the family of Karen E. Driscoll and her fellow Friends of Otter Rock. They created a named scholarship at OCCC in her honor: the Karen E. Driscoll Memorial Scholarship benefitting an Aquarium Science student each year.

Karen Elizabeth Driscoll was born in Wellsville, NY and moved to Cleveland, Ohio as a youth. Upon graduation from high school, Karen studied chemistry at Kent State University earning a BS degree then moved to Boston to work at Harvard Medical School. It was while she lived in Boston that she met David Driscoll, who became her husband of 27 years and father of their three children.

Eventually, Karen and her family moved to Yamhill, where she and David ran Driscoll’s Sheep Station for 15 years, introducing the new breed of Finnsheep to the Pacific Northwest.  But it was her love of marine reserves preservation that brought Karen to Lincoln County.



As her daughter, Erin Wisner remembers, “"From earliest memory, I always knew my mom was happiest at the beach. Every trip East was to Cape Cod where we would walk the shoreline for hours scouring for the perfect horseshoe crabs, and every trip West from Yamhill included tide pooling. I will never forget the special smile she had for rare finds. Her unbridled joy for the marine world paired with her inherent desire to educate has touched countless lives, I cannot imagine a better way for her to go on than with a legacy scholarship."

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Meet the Foundation Board:

Nancy Osterlund

Nancy Osterlund serves on the Chairperson of the OCCC Board of Education, is the OCCC Foundation Board liaison and sits on the Scholarship Committee. In her own words, Nancy explains her dedication.

I was born in International Falls, Minnesota, near the Canadian border, where temperatures often reach minus 20, 30 or 40 degrees without the windchill factor. My hometown is known as the “Icebox of the Nation.” It is a beautiful part of the country where walleye or northern pike were plentiful for anyone who enjoyed fishing.  

After high school, I enrolled in Bemidji State Teachers College. Bemidji was founded in 1919 as a preparatory school for teachers and I always wanted to be an English teacher. After my freshman year, Dad retired and moved to Seaside, Oregon. I moved along with the family and enrolled at Oregon State University. At that time OSU did not offer an English Education degree: only Elementary Ed., K-8. I opted to avoid another move and enrolled in Elementary Ed.  The summer before my senior year, I met Paul who was in law school. We married at the end of my spring term.

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Connect with the Foundation!

Visit the Foundation's website any time to learn more about coming events, connect with the Foundation Board, or learn how to donate conveniently and safely online.