This content was published: December 8, 1999. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
New partnership brings Arts and Communication High School and PCC together for winter term
Photos and story by James Hill
BEAVERTON – If it worked once in 1974, why not try it again 25 years later? When Portland Community College’s Cascade Campus partnered with Jefferson High School’s dance program in the mid-1970s it produced an enriching opportunity for students of both institutions that still occurs today. Now, PCC Rock Creek has done the same with the Beaverton Arts and Communication High School in 1999.
Peter Hirsch, who is the dean of the Business and Humanities Division at PCC, developed a partnership with the high school’s principal Paula Kinney and its community development leader Judy Chown. Both Kinney and Chown were instrumental in setting up the Jefferson-Cascade relationship. The Arts and Communication’s noted dance and music programs will now offer PCC students a chance to learn from its instructors in seven classes that will begin winter term at the high school, a fully accredited arts and communication magnet since 1997.
Three teachers from the Arts and Communication High School will instruct seven college-level courses in dance that will cover tap, jazz, modern, and dance tech. Chown said the mix of high school and college students would enable them to learn from each other, not just the instructor.
The classes that will be taught by the high school’s instructors include Chamber Ensemble, Dance Techniques I-A, Modern Dance I-A Intermediate, Tap Dance I-A, Dance Techniques II-A, Jazz Dance I-A Intermediate and Dance Performance. Introduction to Drawing 131 is the only class that will be taught by a PCC instructor. The Chamber Ensemble class is particularly useful since PCC-Rock Creek doesn’t have the facilities to house that kind of course.
The Beaverton Arts and Communication High School is located at 11375 S.W. Center St. Beaverton, OR 97005. For more information on this course, contact Dr. Mark Eisele or Judy Chown at 503-672-3700, extension 9.
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »