PSU Magazine Fall 2005

Helping college dreamers K lMBER DAHLQUIST '97, MSW '99 helps young people see that, where their future is concerned, the sky's the limit. Working with the l Have a Dream Foundation - Oregon, Dahlquist encourages kids to stay in school, graduate, and pursue further education. Last year, she became the first college coordinator of the organiza– tion'.s Oregon project. "l love working with kids and feel such a great energy being involved with this program ," says Dahlquist. "l want to give these kids the chance to experience the things that l took for granted." The organization provides year-round mentoring, tutor– ing and community services to students in struggling ele– mentary schools starting in the third grade. "Dreamers" who graduate from high school are provided with partial college scholarships. The Oregon founda– tion has mentored nine classes so far. Dahlquist started with the foundation in 1996 as an Ameri– Corps member, while an undergraduate at PSU. She became a project coordinator for the 70 students of class four from Portland's Humboldt Elementary just before they entered middle school. In 2003, 86 percent of her dream– ers graduated high school and 62 percent decided to continue their education. "The kids chose everything from beauty school to Stan– ford University. I'm very proud of our work and all of our dreamers," says Dahlquist. As college coordinator, Dahlquist manages existing scholarships and researches additional funding sources. She provides support to the 75 students attending college from the first five Dreamer classes and helps those still in high school prepare for college. One dreamer graduated from PSU last June and five others are currently enrolled at the University. For Dahlquist, the work is a labor of love. "At the end of my life, l want to be able to say that I've made a difference in at least one person's life," Dahlquist says. " I know that I've been able to exceed that goal. 1 feel very lucky." -Kelli Fields 34 PSU MAGAZINE FALL 2005 Marshall Simmonds is vice president of Enterprise Search Marketing for The New York Times Company. Simmonds is responsible for maximizing traf– fi c and search engine exposure for The New York Times, Boston Globe, lntemational Herald Tri– bune, and About.cam's 450 topic sites. He lives in Bend. Ward Weathers is an electro optical engineer in East Provi– dence, Rhode Island. Julie Beals is the ed itor at Fresh Cup Magazine, asp ciality coffee and tea trade magazine. Beals lives in Eugene. Michael Curiel BS '98 has been teachi ng biology and coaching football at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles for five years. The football team has won the divisional champi– onship for the past three years and in 2004 completed the sea– son ranked second in the West and 1I th in the nation. Curiel writes, "Would like to wish all my fellow Viks well, especially all of my friends from the good old days." He can be reached at curiel@ndhs.org . Mark Hinthorn MEd is princi– pal of Newby Elementary School in McMinnville. Behzad Hosseini MBA '97 has joined the PSU Alumni Board of Directors. Hosseini is manager of geospatial services and regional service inspections at Portland General Electric. He volunteers with Junior Achieve– ment and Northwest Pilot Pro– jects. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Portland. Paresh Patel is president of Cou rtesy Vending of Portland. Patel started with a $300 used vending machine while al PSU. His company has now become the largest vending machine business in the city. He was named 2005 Oregon Small Business Person of the Year by the Oregon Small Business Administration. Kenneth Strnckmeier MS is vice principal at Westview High School in Portland. Mike Terry is accounL director al Magneto Brand Advertising, a full-service advertising agency in Portland. Stacy Chamberlain is council represenLative for the Oregon American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employ– ees in Portland. Chamberlain is responsible for assisting, devel– oping, training, and mentoring leaders in local union adminis– tration as well as grievance han– dling and contract negotiations. She previously served as policy adviser for Portland city com– missioner Randy Leonard. Theresa Hogue is the features reporter al the Gazette Times in Corvallis. Hogue writes for the lifestyles and emenainment sec– Lions and produces feature sto– ries. She has been with the newspaper since 2000, origi– nally covering crime and courts, then higher education. Courtney Brooks MS '01 is a research analyst with the Ore– gon Department of Revenue in Salem. Marc Hinz MPA, as director of continuing and community education at Tillamook Bay Community College in Tillam– ook, won the Gene Leo Memor– ial Award at the Governor's Conference on Tourism in April for creating the Watershed Activities to Estuary Recreation program. The program-a model of economic develop– ment-promotes Tillamook educational walks, hikes, van tours, and kayaking to out-of– area visitors. Hinz recently launched his own company, Kayak Tillamook CounLy. William Burwell MBA '01 works al Biotronik GmbH & Co. KG, an elecLrotherapeutic device manufacturer. He writes, "The company has developed the first implamable pacemaker and defibri llator that transmits data Lo the physician service .