What a Year Brings!

Join in the Fun at SCC

Nancy-Lou Polk

Copy Editor

It’s been a year since my fellow second-career retraining student friend, Carol Brocker, suggested I submit my application to the Ebbtide. At the time, she was the Ebbtide’s webmistress. We were on the same website building team in Shalin Hai-Jew’s Writing for the Web class. Carol is nothing if not encouraging and enthusiastic. (She has since graduated, joined the Peace Corps, and is now stationed in Africa.)

The Ebbtide isn’t really a club, but we’ve got our own clubhouse, computers, and secret (internet) passwords.

I enjoy my classes but how in-depth do you know people when you see them twice a week and then run to the next class? What has been fun about working on the newspaper is getting to know my fellow novice reporters, photographers, and editors.

The Ebbtide staffers range from students right out of high school (not even 18 yet) to students retraining for second (or third) careers. Staffers are local residents (Shoreline and Kenmore), out-of-staters (Minnesota) and transfer students from foreign countries (Quebec and Zimbabwe) . This year, we’ve been staffed by a lawyer, an ESL teacher, a barista, a photo lab specialist, an international tri-lingual customer service rep, and a UW staff member.

In the past year, The Ebbtide has interviewed SCC President Holly Moore (several times), attended Public Information Officer Judy Yu’s news briefings, called on Officer Becky for security information, and interviewed about half of the instructors and staff members on campus.

Our reporters have danced in the PUB to Funkngrove, watched opera, attended national conferences where they won awards, and gazed in amazement at an exhibit of art fashioned from road kill.

It’s been fun in getting to learn new skills on the fly (layout design, editing, interviewing, and recognizing story ideas).

This year, I ate delivery pizza at staff meetings (thanks, Patti) and home made cookies during one frenzied and very late layout session (thanks, Dan’s co-worker).

Got to meet the campus cop who works the midnight shift.

Got to smooze with Ebbtide’s faculty advisor, Patti Jones, about her world-spanning journalism career.

Got to develop a story on SCC’s favorite topic: parking lot woes.

Got to interview two successful SCC graduates (yes, there’s hope we’ll all graduate (eventually) and land great jobs).

Got to learn the meaning of deadlines and how I am so not a deadline-driven person. Look: another deadline just sped by. Whoosh! On to summer.

SCC has clubs, enough clubs for everybody. Clubs offer you skills in your field or information about a professional you might be considering. Or, a club you might want to check out just for fun to meet people or learn about a foreign culture.
v See the webpage online at: http://www.shoreline.edu/clubs.html for a listing of SCC’s clubs.

So, take time out from the books. Join in. Have some fun between tests. Get to know some people on this commuter campus.

Meanwhile, be the peace you want the world to have.