Sen. Jeff Merkley Set To Speak At PCC Graduation This Month

PORTLAND, OR - From Portland Community College: Portland Community College’s 56th commencement ceremony will feature a nationally respected political figure and a student from Columbia County who wants everyone to embrace their warrior side.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley keynotes the college’s signature, culminating event, which begins at 7 p.m., Friday, June 15 in the Memorial Coliseum, 300 N. Winning Way. He will inspire 900 graduates, who will walk across the stage to receive their associate degree or certificate.

In total, nearly 5,800 total degrees and certificates will be awarded this year.

“We are honored to welcome Sen. Merkley to this year’s commencement to inspire our graduates,” said PCC President Mark Mitsui. “Sen. Merkley has long been a champion of education, which we know changes lives and opens doors to opportunity that benefit the greater community.”

Sen. Merkley earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a graduate degree in Public Policy from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Following his education, he worked as a national security analyst at the Pentagon and at the Congressional Budget Office.

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014, he continues to fight for living-wage jobs and to push back on unfair trade policies that ship Oregon’s jobs overseas. He has worked to make college more affordable for students and retirement more secure for seniors.

Sen. Merkley serves on the Senate Committees on Appropriations; Environment and Public Works; Budget; and Foreign Relations.

Pushing the inspiration even more is student speaker Awen Moon Gatten. The 49-year-old mother from Columbia City (Columbia County) is an accomplished student leader at the Rock Creek Campus.

Gatten, who sports a 4.0 grade-point average, served as the Rock Creek chapter president for Phi Theta Kappa (two-year honors society), earned the 2018 All-Academic Team scholarship from the state of Oregon, is a PCC Foundation scholarship recipient, and was recently elected to serve as PTK’s Northern District Executive for the Rocky Mountain Cascade region.

Gatten’s dream is to work as a high school math teacher once she completes her degrees at Portland State University in the mathematics and education programs. Her enrollment at PCC in winter of 2016 to begin her associate degree was a pivotal moment for Gatten.

A 35-year-survivor of child abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault, Gatten’s academic success at the community college enabled her to close of that chapter of her life. She was able to leave her abusive husband and situation at home, and head toward a new career in mathematics.

“I wanted more for myself,” reflected Gatten, who works at St. Helens High School as an Avid Tutor volunteer and as an Aspire mentor. “It clicked (at PCC) and showed me that I can do this. I had a knack for teaching math, and PCC reminded me of how much I enjoyed it.”

Commencement Details

PCC’s graduation is open to the public and no seating tickets are required. Parking will be free at the college’s Cascade Campus (705 N. Killingsworth St.) day of the event, with free shuttles running to and from the Memorial Coliseum.

Shuttles will leave from Cascade beginning at 4 p.m. and will run approximately every 15-20 minutes and will continue until one hour after the ceremony.

Due to increased security, the Memorial Coliseum is implementing a new strict bag policy to help insure the safety of attendees.

The new policy only allows bags that are no larger than one foot wide and one foot long and six inches deep, or smaller inside the venue. Anything larger will not be allowed.

For further information, visit pcc.edu/commencement.

About Portland Community College:

Portland Community College is the largest post-secondary institution in Oregon and provides training, degree and certificate completion, and lifelong learning to more than 73,000 full- and part-time students in Multnomah, Washington, Yamhill, Clackamas, and Columbia counties.

PCC has four comprehensive campuses, eight education centers or areas served, and approximately 200 community locations in the Portland metropolitan area.

The PCC district encompasses a 1,500-square-mile area in northwest Oregon and offers two-year degrees, one-year certificate programs, short-term training, alternative education, pre-college courses and life-long learning.

Visit PCC news on the web at news.pcc.edu.

Image via Portland Community College