Portland State Magazine Fall 2014

20 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2014 “I was a straight-A high school drop out.” “The doctors determined that I had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.” “An education in Ukraine was expensive, and my family had no money to pay.” These three excerpts are from the hundreds of admission essays I read this year as director of Portland State’s Honors College. They show the wide range of unconventional routes this fall’s 200 incoming students took to the College. What stands out for me is how brave they all are. They have survived illnesses, immigrated to the United States, and dealt with disabilities, divorces, and deaths. They have come out as gay, questioned their faith, and found solace in education and community. These stories set us apart from other Honors Colleges—in a good way. Last spring, the University’s Urban Honors program was elevated to an Honors College in recognition of our rapid growth in quality and size. With help from a $1 million gift from the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust, we tripled our enrollment to 700 students in three years and revamped our curriculum to focus on PSU’s urban setting. OUR NEW FOCUS on real-world urban issues attracts students from all over the country, students such as the “straight-A high school dropout” who was bored and bullied at a traditional high school. She writes that she left high school to follow her academic passions as an “unschooler,” working as a farm hand and studying at a community college with a gang member and a 65-year-old widow. She took “whatever roads seemed interest- ing” with the help of “frequent flyer miles and the ability to pass as an 18-year-old.” I was particularly interested in reading about her experience working at a farmers market. After a year at the market she could spin her own yarn, milk a goat, and she could even “tell you what breed a chicken was based off the eggshell color,” she writes. “Math class also took place at the market. How many coolers full of eggs can you stack on the truck? (10) How many dozens does that make? (150) If someone asks you for a dozen eggs with a mix of eggshell colors, how many coolers will you have to go through before you can find a mixed dozen? (Good luck.)” FOR CONTRAST , I want to share another student’s essay about leaving farm life behind and gaining a formal education when she moved from Ukraine to the United States. As a young girl, she was expected to learn to milk the cow, dig potatoes and clean the chicken coop, because her family could not afford an education. If she had gone to school, she would have faced religious persecution for not attending on Saturdays, a required school day in Ukraine and a holy day for her family. When her family immigrated to the U.S. in 2000, they lived in her aunt’s two-bedroom apartment with 11 relatives. WR I T T E N B Y ANN MAR I E FAL LON She could spin her own yarn, milk a goat, and she could even tell you what breed a chicken was based off the eggshell color. If she had gone to school, she would have faced religious persecution. After reading the admission essays for the Honors College, I know it’s going to be a great year. Tales of grit & inspiration