Students will maneuver a commercial vehicle in different traffic conditions; operate a tractor-trailer combination; and navigate the vehicle safely forward and backward around various obstacles. This course is designed to prepare students to take the State of Washington tests necessary to obtain a Commercial Driver’s License for the professional truck driving industry.

Prerequisites for class are:

• 18 years of age or older
• Pass federal Department of Transportation health and drug screening
• Valid Washington State driver’s license
• No DUII, hit and run, reckless, or negligent infractions within the past five years
• Have no more than three moving violations in the past three years

The course runs July 8 – Aug. 30 Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and costs $4,412. Centralia College’s program is $1,000 to $2,000 less expensive than comparable training programs and allows for more practice and learning opportunities. CC has a CDL driving simulator that gives students additional practice time.

For more information, contact Workforce Education at 360-623-8963. To register, visit Centralia College Enrollment Services in the TransAlta Commons.

ASL 121 covers finger spelling, numbers and basic vocabulary along with everyday phrases, greetings and basic grammatical features. Students will also learn cultural information related to the deaf community. The 5-credit class is offered from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays from July 1 to Aug. 23.

People take ASL classes for many reasons. Some want to better communicate with deaf family or friends. Others want the ability to interact with deaf people they encounter at work or in daily life. Several wish to become sign language interpreters. And some just need to satisfy a major or foreign language requirement and think the course sounds cool.

DePuye-Phillips has known ASL all her life, as she is deaf herself. But it wasn’t until she took formal college courses that she really fell in love with the language. “The discovery that ASL is a natural language opened up my world as it provided me with another avenue of accessibility to information, communication and my culture,” she said.

DePuye-Phillips taught ASL and counseled deaf students at Northern Illinois University for more than 15 years. “It brings me joy sharing language with others through teaching,” she said.

In 2008, she relocated to the Chehalis area. “I decided to shift my focus and become a full-time caregiver for my husband, a disabled veteran, whom also communicates with me in ASL,” she said.

DePuye-Phillips became an ASL instructor at Centralia College in 2017. “While I enjoy being a caregiver, I missed teaching,” she said. “So, with the support of my husband, I decided to return to my passion of teaching ASL on a part-time basis. The adjunct faculty position afforded me the ability to balance both teaching and caregiving.”

DePuye-Phillips encourages her students to immerse themselves in the deaf community by attending local deaf events. Here they can mingle, make new friends and practice their budding ASL skills. “Practice makes progress,” she said. “I also include many opportunities in my courses for students to practice, as well as boost their confidence in their receptive and expressive skills when signing with deaf individuals.”

DePuye-Phillips enjoys watching students progress throughout the class. Seeing their smiles when they try a sign and get a positive response from a deaf person in return also warms her heart. “My ultimate favorite is when I see former students years later in their professional lives utilizing ASL in their jobs,” she said. “Many of them reach out to me, thanking me for helping them become a part of the deaf community.”

Interested? Sign up for ASL 121 today. “ASL is a beautiful language, and easy to master if you stick with practice and immerse yourself into the deaf world,” DePuye-Phillips said. “Learning ASL is one way to bridge the gap between the hearing and deaf worlds.”

A first-generation college student, DuPont loves to learn. She completed the requisite math courses early in her high school career so she shifted her attention to science. After discovering her passion for the field in her ninth grade honors class, she took every science course the school offered. “I ran out of science classes in 10^thgrade,” she said. “I just really like science.”

Centralia College’s Running Start program was a logical next step. DuPont enrolled in a wide variety of science courses to help her determine which area of the field she liked best. “There are so many options for science classes we don’t have at the high school,” she said. “When Peggy [Goldberg] showed me the list, my eyes popped out of my head.”

The higher-level coursework challenged and excited her, as did the available technology and equipment. DuPont was thrilled to analyze real human tissue samples, dissect fetal pigs and work from full skeletons. “All the anatomy and physiology labs were really memorable,” she said. “I never thought I’d be able to do those dissections or work with actual human bones.”

DuPont also enjoyed interacting with her collegiate peers. “I like being able to meet people who aren’t from my high school,” she said. “I was in Centralia my whole 12 years.”

She joined the College’s science club and became involved with other student endeavors like the Gender & Sexuality Alliance’s recent drag show. “I thought, why not?” she recalled. “I’ve only been to a drag show twice before but I danced at Southwest Washington Dance Center for 12 years. It was fun getting back into performing again.”

DuPont didn’t just show up and walk the runway – she crafted a whole persona, selected a song (Tainted Love), designed a routine and concocted a getup. “His name is Charlie Bravo,” she said. “He’s an office worker whose coworkers think is very boring – but at night he goes out and performs.”

In her spare time, DuPont expresses her creativity through writing. She has drafted pieces from every genre and has completed everything from short stories to two full-length novels. One, she calls a “ninth-grade assignment that just got way out of hand” entitled Alice the Hero. The other is a work of historical fiction set in ancient Rome entitled Eranos and Camillus.

The latter is based on an idea DuPont had after simply noticing someone sitting on a staircase. “I thought, what if someone just kept sitting there?” she recalled. “In the book, Camillus just sits on the stairs because he’s training to be a monk. Then people misinterpret it, creating a political movement.”

She’s currently working on another novel and the beginnings of a screenplay which she hopes to dedicate more time to after graduation.

DuPont also has a passion for music and spends much of her free time traveling to concerts. In between, she creates music videos. “I listen to a lot of music and when I’m listening, I try to visualize it,” she said. “I get ideas for videos we can make. Then my friends come over, we make props and go to the park or somewhere to film.”

The final products are shared among the group, not released publically. They’re created for the sheer joy of production, mixed with an element of relief. “I have a lot of stories in my head all the time,” DuPont said. “It’s less wanting to get them out, and more that if I don’t write them down, I’ll go crazy. They’ll keep bugging me until I get them down on paper. I like not having the pressure of creating for an audience.”

DuPont’s creativity assists in her scientific studies. When she finds herself struggling to remember how anatomical components relate to one another, she’ll write them out as characters. She uses narrative plot to explain how they interrelate the way they do. This helps her retain tricky information and put it into practice. “I like to put things in terms I can understand,” she said.

DuPont has perfected her study skills since arriving at Centralia College nearly two years ago. As with many academically inclined individuals, she didn’t have to study hard to get good grades in high school. Tackling collegiate-level work helped her build her repertoire of study skills, something she advises others to do early. “I got really into flash cards, started using a planner and studying with friends,” she said.

She advises other students to make at least one friend in each class to share notes and study together. She also encourages incoming freshmen to take classes they think might interest them, not just those they already know they’re interested in. “And be open to changing your goal,” she said. “Just try to have fun with it because we’re here to learn but it should also be enjoyable.”

DuPont will graduate with her high school diploma and her associate degree this June. She’s already been accepted to the University of California San Diego and awarded the Shores Scholarship which grants recipients $29,000 a year for four years. DuPont is excited for the new adventure. “I love the location and it has a great reputation for its biology program,” she said.

She plans to study human biology with the ultimate goal of becoming a pediatrician. “I really didn’t know what I wanted to do when I started,” she said. “Taking Centralia College’s Anatomy and Physiology class made me realize what I wanted to do.”

It’s a good fit, considering her passion for science, creativity and experience with kids. DuPont spent the last six years volunteering at Centralia Timberland Library, working on children’s programs, teen events and other youth gatherings.

This is just another way she uses her creativity, and she encourages others to do the same. “I feel like everyone has something to create,” she said. “So just create something! Creation makes the world a better place.”

Exempt

• Program Manager, Children’s Lab School/ECEAP
• Director, Center of Excellence

Faculty

• Construction Trades Assistant Professor
• Welding Technology Assistant Professor (Full-Time Temporary)
• Electronics, Robotics, and Automation Assistant Professor – Tenure Track
• BEdA Navigator & Pro-rata Faculty
• Economics Assistant Professor – Tenure Track
• English Assistant Professor – Tenure Track
• Information Technology Assistant Professor (Full-Time Temporary – Winter/Spring 2019)

Adjunct Faculty

• Adjunct (Part-time) Fine Arts Professors
• Adjunct (Part-Time) Health and Fitness Instructors

View these and other position announcements.

Unlike some, her exploits are not limited to the page. As a young woman, she set off into the world to see what she could discover. She took a road trip across the United States and journeyed to Nepal and Thailand. She recently traveled to Europe, and hopes to go to Guatemala next summer. “I learned a lot by leaving and going to a third world country when I was 20,” she said. “You can’t believe that it’s the same planet you live on. The psychology is so different.”

After returning to the States, Capen found a job as a caregiver. She thought it was just a way to replenish her bank account but discovered much more. “I found it to be the most rewarding job I ever had,” she said. “I didn’t know you could feel rewarded in what you did. So I stayed.”

After her daughter, Julia, was born, Capen took her to work with her. This flexibility was another important benefit of the job and, combined with her natural affinity for the work, spurred her on to get her LPN and RN from Centralia College. Thanks to scholarships, she graduated debt-free.

While in school, Capen put her skills to good use as a healthcare assistant at an internal medicine office and in an adult family home. She took her daughter to work at the family home with her, which was the perfect fit for a single mom. “I loved it and I loved geriatrics,” she said. “That knowledge was super helpful all through my life.”

Her accumulated wisdom proved especially helpful when her father was diagnosed with early onset dementia. During what can be a bewildering time, Capen’s experience provided peace and insight. “Families who don’t have that experience have such a rougher time,” Capen said. “We all had a really clear understanding of what was going on.”

After graduating from Centralia College’s RN program, Capen went to work at a walk-in clinic. “I was the only triage nurse in the office, so I learned a lot,” she said.

Capen was then hired at Providence clinic, where she became trained in a variety of settings. “I started assisting in surgery and then with C-sections,” she said.

Along the way, she decided to go back to school to earn her degree, which had become an important qualification in the industry. She earned her bachelor’s from the University of Phoenix and her master’s from Grand Canyon University. “I loved online schooling,” she said. “The schedule was really important to me so I could spend time with my daughter.”

Of all her interests and responsibilities, Capen is crystal clear on where her priorities lay. “I wanted to spend as much time as I could with her,” she said. “I want her to know that I’m here. She’s the top priority.”

While she was completing her master’s, a teaching job opened at Centralia College. Capen was a natural fit.She especially enjoys shepherding in the next generation of nurses. “They get really stressed out in nursing school,” she said. “We help them find resources so they can make it to their goals and we encourage them to take care of themselves throughout the program. It’s a stressful career but I think being a nurse makes it easier to be a good person. You’re not judgmental to patients. Your job is to take care of them, not to make them think like you do. You just accept them in all sorts of forms. That, in general, has helped me become a better teacher and a better person.”

Capen earned tenure in April 2019. “It’s nice,” she said. “I feel like getting tenure means you’ve kind of proven you can teach and get the feedback from students. That’s what means the most to me.”

Now she’s shifting her focus to departmental goals like earning national accreditation and completing a 35-page simulation manual. “It’s hugely important for the growth of the program,” she said. “And national accreditation will allow our students to work anywhere.”

Capen thoroughly enjoys working at Centralia College and takes advantage of every opportunity it offers. She’s taken several classes out of sheer enjoyment, including a particularly memorable observational astronomy class last summer. “I saw all Jupiter’s moons, Saturn’s rings and Andromeda,” she said. “It was really cool.”

She’s currently filling in as the Outdoors Club advisor. The group engages in a wide variety of outdoor adventures including mushroom picking, clam digging, backpacking, and more.In her spare time, she paints, gardens, crochets and, of course, reads as much as she can.

She and Julia, now 16, recently returned from a trip to Paris. Capen was excited to share her love of travel with her daughter. “We got to see Notre Damebefore it burnt,” she said.

She also recently hiked to the top of Mount Saint Helen’s with her sister. “I wanted to do it before I was 40,” she said. “We prepared ourselves really well.” Next she has her eye on Mount Adams and, perhaps someday, even Rainier.

When asked what she’s most proud of in her life, Capen said, “I’m most proud of not giving up. I create goals for myself and I usually always reach them. I knew I could climb Mount Saint Helens because I can do goals. Getting my master’s degree was a goal. You can get overwhelmed but I always have little goals to get to the big goals. I meet my goals and I’m not easily discouraged.”

“It was a hard decision,” she said.

Lazo completed two years of Running Start in high school, graduating with her associate degree just one day before earning her high school diploma from W.F. West. She attended Central Washington University, where she majored in business and marketing education. “I just jumped into it,” she said.

She graduated with her bachelor’s degree at age 20 and earned her master’s in business administration at age 22. By the time most people are just starting their job search, Lazo was already a master’s-level teacher in charge of her own high school classroom. She redefines the term “go-getter.”

After 10 years teaching at the high school level, Lazo began teaching business, marketing and computer classes at Centralia College in the fall of 2016. It was the perfect fit for her family life and offered an exciting new challenge. “I like the practicality of it,” she said. “Students are actually going to use what I’m teaching.”

Lazo imparts practical wisdom by weaving real-world lessons into her curriculum. For example, she explained to her her 8-year-old son that toothpaste is toothpaste and the use of Avengers branding is a marketing strategy. “He’s probably one of few 8-year-olds that could tell you about marketing,” she said.

These real-world scenarios are great educational opportunities. “I teach marketing students to look at their families,” Lazo said. “What does it look like for you to purchase items? What catches your attention? What makes you want to buy things? So, when you’re looking for a need – is it a psychological need or is it just a need? We’re all consumers and most students aspire to be entrepreneurs or business owners.”

Her favorite part of the job is seeing the lessons click with her students. “I like interacting with people and helping them learn,” she said. “You don’t get that experience anywhere else.”

The most difficult part? Helping students who aren’t yet engaged in the learning process. “Everyone has a different purpose for being there,” she said. “A good fraction wants to be there and are excited to learn, while others have to be there because it’s a class they have to take.”

Oftentimes, students arrive with baggage they need to work through in the classroom. Older students may struggle to learn from someone they perceive as being so young. Others are retraining for a different profession after being in the same career for decades. “For some, it’s facing a computer, which is their biggest enemy,” Lazo said. “I’ve learned that everyone has different experiences they’re bringing to the classroom. With 20-something students ranging from 16- to 70-years-old with different responsibilities and experience, everyone is bringing their own background.”

Lazo helps these students by reconnecting them with the reason they’re there in the first place. “Whether they wanted to come here or not, I ask, ‘Why are you here? What brought you here and where do you want to go?’” she said.

This strategy pays off and Lazo enjoys seeing the accomplishments that result. “It’s the little victories,” she said. “For some, it was that their first quarter was really terrible but now they get it. Victories don’t look the same for everybody.”

Watching her first students graduate was her proudest moment thus far. “I saw them when they started,” she said, “so seeing them at graduation and seeing some get hired was really exciting.”

To prepare students for life after college, Lazo works to impart more than business skills. “It’s overarching in any class I teach,” she said. “I want them to really learn about themselves, learn about their strengths and weaknesses, and become more reflective in themselves and the material – to be a good employee, citizen, boss, and team member.”

Lazo embodies these qualities herself. Centralia College appreciates her work, awarding her tenure in April. “I’m thankful for the process and being able to learn so much in the first three years,” Lazo said. “I’m grateful for the committee that guides you through the tenure process. They’ve been cheerleaders and offered support. It’s nice to have that learning experience. I’m part of this community officially. I’ve joined the ranks.”

When she’s not teaching, Lazo likes spending time with her husband, Isaac; son, Hunter; and their two Labrador retrievers, Ember and Woodford. “We love going on road trips, camping and spending time as a family,” she said.

A natural high-achiever, Lazo already has her sights set on accomplishing her next set of goals – both personally and professionally. “One is to stay relevant,” she said, “to continually reflect on my own practice to meet the needs of my students. I’m constantly looking at where I came from and where I want to go. Nobody’s going to make things happen for you but you.”

Originally from Woodstock, Illinois, Spanksi-Dreffin came to Lewis County after his uncle recommended Centralia College’s Diesel Tech program. He was already well-versed in the field after taking shop classes in high school and working at a local automotive shop. So, after graduating early, he moved west to explore the option. “I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t like working on other people’s cars as much as my own,” he said.

Fortunately, Spanksi-Dreffin enjoyed the area and all it had to offer. Innately curious, he threw himself into several endeavors, including an international theater production. “These students came from foreign countries and at the end of their stay, a big part of their curriculum was to put on a theater production in English,” he said. “We sat down and talked them through their lines. Some didn’t know English when they came over. Others knew English well but they didn’t know the weird random things like implications and stresses.”

Noticing Spanksi-Dreffin’s theatrical skill, the show’s director, Brian Willis, connected him with Brian Tyrrell at Centralia College’s theater program. “It was a roundabout way of coming back to Centralia College,” Spanksi-Dreffin said with a smile.

He enrolled in the college’s associate program and got involved in theater arts, where he met his wife, Kaaren. “She was in a majority of the theatrical productions at the time,” he said. “I figured out that I was much happier stage managing but I got a beautiful wife out of it, so it’s good I did it.”

An Unexpected Career

During school, a family member connected Spanksi-Dreffin with a job opportunity at the local sheriff’s department. He was hired as a full-time corrections officer and quickly moved up to a supervisor position. He found the work challenging but rewarding. “It was an interesting job,” he said. “You learn things – some of the things I learned about and dealt with, I never want to talk about again. But some were amazing.”

It was here that Spanksi-Dreffin attended a Washington State retirement seminar. “I was in there with people who were 55- to 70-years-old, and here’s this weird 20-year-old guy,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve always been a numbers geek. My dad was in investments and trading. As a kid, I had an allowance and a fake checkbook I had to balance.”

After the meeting, Spanksi-Dreffin began chatting with other corrections employees, asking them about their retirement plans and discussing retirement strategy, planning, finances and benefits. “I knew a lot about the programs so I’d sit and talk to some of the officers,” he said. “I asked if they’d ever actually checked their Washington State retirement or used the retirement estimator. When planning, you have to take into consideration things like the county not paying for your medical benefits after retirement.”

These conversations ignited a spark in Spanksi-Dreffin. Two subsequent occurrences would fan the flames. First was a conversation with Larry McGee, who encouraged Spanksi-Dreffin to join Centralia College’s first cohort in the bachelor’s degree program in Applied Management (BAS-AM). “[Working in corrections] is an amazing career and I love everybody there; I just knew it wasn’t my endgame,” Spanksi-Dreffin said. “I had the ability to go back to school and the county believes in having educated people so they reimbursed me for half of my bachelor’s degree. That was nice. It was a great job – it just wasn’t what I was going to be when I grew up.”

From Corrections to Calculus

Spanksi-Dreffin joined Twin Cities Rotary after becoming involved in Rotaract, their collegiate branch, during his AA. “I liked their worldwide service organization mission,” he said. “They want to make the community and people better. There’s no hidden agenda. They ask: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and friendship? And does it benefit all concerned? If you live your life and run your business like that, it’s pretty simple; you don’t have to worry about a lot of nonsense. I’ve always been drawn to that.”

Through Rotary he met Don Wilson, a local independent financial advisor with Voya Financial, who offered professional advice and guidance. After graduating from the Bachelor’s in Applied Science program with honors, Spanksi-Dreffin took the leap and stepped out on his own. “I figured out I really loved doing financial planning,” he said. “It was really hard but I took the jump away from the nice career I had with the stable paycheck and benefits to working for myself and depending on myself for everything.”

“But,” he added with a smile, “I really like my boss.”

Passing It On

From automotive to theater, corrections to finance, Spanksi-Dreffin has made a lifelong habit of stretching himself to learn and try new things. So, when a faculty position opened at Centralia College, he decided to throw his hat into the ring.

He now teaches Practicum In Management and guides the BAS-AM internship program. All his life experience is being put to work helping others. “I learn a lot too,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to have a discussion with all the students and all different viewpoints. The practicum isn’t a textbook and it’s not scripted; it’s a very open dialogue. It’s good to learn from your mistakes but it’s even better to learn from someone else’s.”

Spanksi-Dreffin enjoys helping students learn and grow through their internships – the way he benefitted from his. “It was the internship that showed me I can actually do it; I’m good enough,” he said. “It was that tipping point.”

Today, Spanksi-Dreffin uses innovative tools to balance teaching, running his business, volunteering with Rotary and his family life (he and Kaaren are now parents to a two-year-old little girl and an eight-month-old baby boy). Each week he maps out his schedule on an elaborate excel spreadsheet. “From Sunday to Saturday, each day is 24 hours on an Excel sheet,” he said. “I log time for sleeping, family time, grading paperwork and working on my financial planning business. If I have to change something, I find another hour or so within my week to do what I was supposed to be doing.”

When things get stressful, Spanksi-Dreffin literally floats his cares away. He discovered the practice of using a sensory deprivation chamber to calm and meditate several years ago in Olympia. He’s used it multiple times a week since, sometimes replacing hours of nightly sleep, which he finds less restorative than floating.

He shares time-management and coping skills like these with his students, in addition to accumulated wisdom. His diverse background has given him a wealth of experience to draw from. “I don’t run on status quo,” he said with a smile.

Just ask and he’ll tell you about working with a pack of wolves and a grizzly bear on a Norwegian film set. Or when he deconstructed, moved and rebuilt an entire log cabin. How about the time he tagged a herd of sheep? He’s discussed cookies with Twin Peaks’ Kyle McLachlan and saw Daryl Hannah dressed up like a mermaid. And he helped construct a giant Ark on the dry plains of Montana.

Banta is the Indiana Jones of librarians.

He actually began his career as a documentarian, producing abstract films to project behind bands during performances and tour documentaries with up-and-coming groups. “The first documentary I did was with a band called ‘The Microphones,’ who then changed their name to ‘Mount Eerie,’ with Phil Elverum in Anacortes,” Banta said. “He releases his own records and has ties to the K Records scene in Olympia. NPR does pieces on him now.”

Banta went on tour with Elverum and Kyle Field of Little Wings, filming along the way. The project was a success. “I sold all my copies,” Banta said. “It was great and it has been interesting to see those artists go on to have bigger and bigger careers, build up their followings and change paths along the way.”

Banta worked on several other films as well, including North Fork staring Nick Nolte and Daryl Hannah. It was shot in color, but everything was designed to look black and white. “I painted an entire restaurant grey, down to filling ketchup bottles with grey paint,” he said.

After moving to New York, Banta did a tour video for Akron Family and a music video for The National. Both films were met with enthusiasm but Banta found himself searching for more. “I wanted to be a filmmaker and I had found some success, but making money in that world is pretty hard,” he said, “even if you’re doing things where there’s a built-in audience.”

To make ends meet, he found work in coffee shops, as a delivery driver, working construction and more. “I did a lot of aimless wandering,” he said. “It wasn’t all glorious.”

He also worked with young people at local film schools, helping them with equipment, framing shots and various technical aspects. “I really liked teaching and working with students, especially in a really hands-on way,” he said.

Around this time, Banta met his wife, Cathy, who was working for New York Public Library. Getting to know her and her librarian friends piqued Banta’s interest in the profession. Additional factors, like the economic crash of 2008, compelled him to enter the field. “I’d always loved libraries and some of the larger ones were starting to have media production facilities,” he said. “I thought my skills might not be completely irrelevant. I thought, that’s the kind of librarian I’ll be – the tech equipment guy.”

A New Beginning

Banta earned his bachelor’s degree at Montana State University and his master’s from University of Washington. His professional librarian career took him to Western Washington University, then back to his alma mater, Montana State University, before coming to Centralia College three years ago. “I love being a librarian,” he said, “helping students build information literacy. These skills are very crucial in today’s world – looking up information and figuring out what’s credible.”

Discerning credibility is an important aspect of Banta’s work. He recently collaborated with a Centralia College science classes to help students hone this important skill. “The science that’s presented in the news tends to sensationalize things,” he said. “This activity walks students through figuring out if something is credible or not. “

Sometimes the publication and author appear credible, but the research behind it proves to be faulty. It’s important to know how to detect issues – even from normally credible sources. “One researcher we looked at has recently been discredited,” Banta said. “He was a high-profile guy whose research findings were turned into FDA recommendations.”

Banta teaches students to do more than deeply evaluate one source. When focusing on just the source itself, “those internal clues won’t tell you the full story,” he said. “You have to use the full power of the web to check what’s known about that person.” In this particular case, he continued, “a quick search about that researcher’s name brought up a bunch of news reports about them getting into trouble and being discredited. Students are typically very shocked that they rated something as really credible when, had they just used the tools of the web, they would have found out there are some big issues.”

A Free and Open Exchange

After coming from the highly copyrighted world of music and film, Banta finds library culture refreshing. “It’s all about sharing, which is a really nice breath of fresh air,” he said. “It’s really cool to come to a professional community where everyone’s helpful and you can make use of everything.”

In the film industry, Banta saw proprietary disputes get in the way of creation, which he feels is a loss for all concerned. Through his position at Centralia College, he collaborates with other librarians and faculty members on class and project ideas, and he incorporates the concept of open licensing and information sharing into his lessons. This is both a passion project and an area of academic research for Banta. “A lot of my work is informed by the idea of sharing,” he said. “It’s a big part of what librarianship is about. It’s what education is about. It’s about sharing work and opening ourselves up to these fantastic things.”

He also helps faculty members adopt freely available textbooks. “There are a lot of faculty doing great stuff with open education resources already,” he said.

The open education movement is not only about providing students cost-free course materials, but also making sure faculty have the freedom to create, revise and remix learning materials as they see fit. “I want to help grow that here, while also maintaining academic freedom and flexibility,” Banta said. “If we all can help students save money, it seems like a win-win for me.”

In the spirit of free and open information, Banta is currently revamping Centralia College’s historical archive, updating its technology and content. Traditionally a source for past College-related newspaper clippings, historical information and the school’s yearbook collection, Banta plans to incorporate other components. “Our archive can be a capstone project showcase as well,” he said. “And faculty members write research papers every year, typically on innovations they’re doing in the classroom. It will be amazing to share that work for our community and beyond.”

Centralia College appreciates Banta’s innovative work, awarding him tenure in April 2019. Banta found the process to be beneficial and uplifting. “Knowing other librarians, I know the tenure process isn’t so supportive elsewhere,” he said. “Some places can be cutthroat but the tenure process at Centralia is so supportive. It’s like you’re being guided and mentored along the way. It’s a total honor to be granted tenure here. It’s really great to be here at this school and here in this region. Everything has come together and makes so much sense for me; this is what I’m supposed to be doing. And that’s really after a lot of self-doubt and figuring it out through my 20s and 30s. It’s a nice thing to be in that position – doing what I’m supposed to be doing and where I’m supposed to be.”

And the Beat Goes On

When he’s not teaching, Banta enjoys spending time with his wife, Cathy, and their seven-year-old daughter, Cleo. “It’s a super awesome adventure,” he said. “It really puts everything into perspective.”

He also enjoys outdoor activities like hiking and biking, and he’s learning to homebrew. Of course, he still loves music. These days, he’s listening to everything from free jazz to the Japanese noise artist Merzbow. He appreciates international sounds, psych rock, old time early blues and a wide array of independent and sub-underground music. “My tastes are pretty wide and wild,” he said with a smile. “I try to go to as many live shows as I can and support the artists who are coming through. People are making wonderful, magical, mysterious music. Thank goodness they are.”

“In 2012, my company got sold and I lost my job,” Leet said. “Six months later, I lost my house.”

Her two children moved in with their father, while Leet struggled to get back on her feet. She had worked hard to earn her previous position, but she lacked the formal education to start at the same level from scratch. She was jobless, homeless and out of options. But she wasn’t out of spunk. “I thought, if I’m going to change my life, I’m going to have to do it myself,” she said.

Leet didn’t believe school was an option for her. She’d struggled in high school and ultimately gotten her GED. But she knew she had to do something. “I decided I wanted to provide a better life for my kids – myself too, but my kids first,” she said.

So she went to Oklahoma, where she’s a member of the Choctaw tribe, to complete career development. This gave her the confidence she needed to pursue higher education. She enrolled in Centralia College’s associate’s program, using Pell Grant and Tribal funds. “I was in Yelm, so I could have gone elsewhere,” she said, “but I liked how I felt here. Everyone was so helpful.”

There were struggles along the way, but Leet made it through. She even earned a spot on the dean’s list and placed 10th in her first speech competition. “I worked my butt off,” she said. And Centralia College staff helped. “The school went to bat for me,” Leet noted. “I’ve had issues with funding and they’ve always helped figure it out.”

Leet also appreciated the professors. “They really care,” she said. “And they can really hear you because they’re also working full time and teaching and going to school.”

After graduating with her associate’s degree in business administration in 2016, Leet moved on to phase two: earning her bachelor’s degree. Centralia College’s BAS-AM program was the perfect fit. “It provides working parents opportunities,” she said. “I’ve been single with kids, and in school, and working. I don’t have all that time. It’s so different to raise little human beings without an extra set of hands.”

Leet’s two children were enrolled in school while she earned her associate’s degree. “It was perfect back then,” she said. “I was done and back home in Yelm before they got off the bus.”

When her youngest son was born shortly after starting her bachelor’s degree, it changed everything. Leet was forced to medically withdraw from the program. “It was a really low point for me,” she said. “I did all this successful stuff and now I have to start back at square one with a baby. I kept thinking, what am I doing? But everything’s got a silver lining.”

Leet took a year off with her newborn son, then returned to accomplishing her goal – more committed than ever.

During the BAS-AM program, Leet applied for a position at Blue Heron Bakery in Olympia. They’d bypassed her application in the past, but with her associate’s degree on the resume, this time was different. “I turned in my application and he called and hired me the next day,” she said. “I had that opportunity – not for wrapping cookies and packaging bread – but for doing what I do: the office job.”

The education she’s received at Centralia College has proven helpful in Leet’s day job since. “At this school, you get the tools andthey show you how to use them,” she said. “In my classes, I learned how to really use tools like QuickBooks. Before, I learned from each small business owner who had just taught themselves, which was such a different experience. They only knew how to make it work for their company but not how to use the program fully. But after my classes, I could actually answer their questions and do the work. That boosted my confidence so much.”

Today Leet is only one quarter away from graduation and she’s thriving. “There’s so much more to my ability to handle stress now,” she said. “It’s not as hard as you make it up in your mind to be. Once you start taking tests and passing them, that’s the key. There was so much more fear associated with it than there ever needed to be.”

Leet is inspired by the many BAS-AM speakers who reframed her idea of what’s possible. “We had a speaker who said, ‘A lot of people teach you to think outside the box, but I encourage you to realize there is no box,’” Leet recalled. “There is no limit; whatever you think you can do, you can do it. You really realize you’re the only person who can limit what you can do.”

Leet developed a long list of valuable skills at Centralia College. “I’ve got a MAC toolbox that’s fully furnished,” she said with a laugh.

And she’s putting those skills to good work – achieving her goals one by one. “Every single thing I wanted to accomplish, I’ve smashed that goal,” she said.

The oldest of seven children, Leet is the first person in her family to earn her college degree. But the others have taken note. Her younger brother is now enrolled in business classes and her sister is earning her associate’s. Leet’s daughter is also going back to school for nursing. Leet constantly encourages them to set goals and reach for the sky. “[My daughter] told me I’ve inspired her,” Leet said.

For those who’d like to earn their degree but haven’t yet made the leap, Leet recommended examining the fear. “If you’re looking for an excuse, you’re always going to find one,” she said. “Just flip the fear around and start looking for the positives. [Lead Faculty] Mary McClain encourages us to realize this is life-long learning. [Assistant Psychology Professor] Atara Macnamara didn’t even get her graduate degree until she was 50. If she did it, you can do it. It’ll be tough but everything worth having is worth doing the work for.”

Leet will graduate with her bachelor’s degree in June and her future looks bright. “I can’t wait, I’m so excited,” she said. “I‘m already pulling out my cap and gown. I wore it at my first graduation, now I’m wearing it at my second.”

She’s especially excited for the future. “I want to do all the things I’ve been waiting to do, like finding that really good career that I can do now and retire from,” Leet said. “I’ve never worked a job with benefits. Now I’m looking at State jobs making more money than I’ve ever made in my life. Just having this bachelor’s degree opens that door.”

She didn’t know it at the time, but she actually was athletic – just not in the traditional sense. “I enjoyed outdoor activities,” she said. “I skied, biked and hiked.”

Today Johnson incorporates more comprehensive athletic experiences into her curriculum. This helps many students who, like Johnson, once considered themselves not athletic. “Activity is accessible for everyone; it doesn’t have to look a particular way,” she said. “I like to weave that into all my classes.”

Johnson has seen this strategy pay off time and time again. Often, her courses empower students to incorporate physical fitness into their lives on a more consistent basis. Sometimes, they go big. “I ran into a gal who took boot camp class years ago,” Johnson recalled. “She wasn’t super fit when she took the class and she wasn’t super into it. But she shared with me that the class got her going and she now does ultra-marathons. That was the springboard getting her into the idea of working out and now she does these super marathons.”

The Starting Line
Johnson earned her undergraduate degree in recreation and parks with the goal of becoming a camp director. Ultimately, however, she found the work schedule incompatible with maintaining a healthy family life. She found a better fit working as the City of Centralia’s Recreation Supervisor. “We had a lot of fitness classes at the time,” she said. “I taught some and realized I liked that a lot more.”

She began teaching fitness classes at Thorbeckes and earned her Master’s in Health Exercise and Recreation from Emporia State University in Kansas. “You evolve in your life,” she explained.

Johnson taught her first class at Centralia College 29 years ago – a simple quarter-long physical education class. She picked up additional courses here and there as an adjunct professor for several years, working her way from part- to full-time. In 2019, she crossed a new milestone by earning tenure. “It’s so great,” she said. “I have secure employment to finish out my work years in a place I really love.”

A Team Sport
Like many great teachers, Johnson practices what she preaches. Each quarter, she asks her students to research a positive, health-related behavior change and implement it into their own lives – and she joins them with projects of her own. One quarter, she gave up Chai Tea. Another time, she focused on getting two full bottles of water a day. “It’s about empowering students to see that they have control over their health behaviors,” she said. “Just setting a small goal that’s manageable is powerful. Your goals will build one upon another.”

Johnson is currently conducting follow-up studies to see how many students permanently adopt their focus behavior. “Whatever they do in life, whether they become a teacher or a doctor or an engineer, taking better care of themselves can enhance what they do,” she explained.

One particularly beneficial behavior is social engagement. “Happiness for all of us is to get connected to each other,” she said. “Looking at some of the most recent research, social support and connection are actually above fitness and diet in determining longevity.”

Johnson works to create an environment where students feel supported and can connect with one another. “I remember one student who sat out by herself,” she recalled. “She would sit with her head down all the time. Then, one day, I saw her move and sit by another student. She made a new friend. It’s great just seeing students move forward in healthy ways.”

Special walk-and-talk assignments help Johnson’s students improve their social connections and mental acuity. “Research shows that when you move and are doing mental tasks, it increases your ability to learn,” she said. “I give them a discussion topic and they walk around and discuss. They have to switch partners. I also give extra credit for participating in something on campus for student engagement. It’s important to feel like you belong and have connections.”

Leading the Pack
Johnson teaches around 200 students each quarter. She offers everything from general physical education classes to stress management, Pilates, yoga and technology in fitness. She has instructed in Centralia, Morton and at the Tribal Center, and worked remotely with Cedar Creek inmates. “I really enjoy working with a variety of students in different environments,” she said.

She also teaches more sport-specific courses like snowshoeing and hiking. “I love taking people into the outdoors and empowering them to get out and do this,” she said. “One young couple got together from snowshoeing. Two of my neighbors, who are in their 70s, took the classes as well. In bringing the generations together, a lot of learning can take place.”

Ultimately, Johnson’s main goal is to impress upon students that they have control over their health. The results can pay dividends for decades – and even generations – to come.