Embarking on a journey with her classmates through the bustling heart of Portland, EOU student and Pendleton, Oregon native Addison Bonzani experienced the rush of city life for the first time. But getting here was not a simple process. Two powerful forces conspired to make her adventure possible: the Urban-Rural Ambassador Institute and the indomitable spirit of Scott Fairley.

The Urban-Rural Ambassador Institute is a collaborative effort between ��ݮ��Ƶ (EOU) and Portland State University (PSU), giving students from both schools residential field trips to learn about commonalities and differences between Oregon’s communities. The program aims to build a critical framework for understanding the nuances of the state’s urban-rural “divide.” Students from both universities participate in discussions with an array of elected officials and community leaders while building relationships among themselves and with people in different parts of the state.

“Portland State and Eastern Oregon students are co-enrolled in this class to learn about specific issues,” said Tim Seydel, Vice President for University Advancement, who helped launch the program with former EOU President Tom Insko. “There are actually a lot of similarities in the demographics of PSU and EOU students: working, nontraditional, first generation. This is an opportunity for them to collaborate, to effectively experience first-hand the similarities and differences both urban and rural areas share.”

Each year the institute delves into key topics, including transportation, housing, food production/scarcity, healthcare, natural resources, and more. This was Addison’s first exposure to a variety of issues and opportunities dealing with public transportation, both in Portland as well as in La Grande. 

“The class demonstrated how issues of urban and rural areas are similar, but manifest differently,” Bonzani reflected. “I had never been to Portland before this trip. And, while I don’t want rural areas to become urbanized, we can take lessons from larger areas to build solid infrastructure in our rural communities.”

“We started discussions about a program to help close the urban-rural divide in 2017 and welcomed the first cohort in 2018. We wanted to make it a model for programs in other areas to bridge similar gaps,” Seydel said. “Scott just loved the idea of connecting students from different parts of the state on a common topic.” 

Scott Fairley spent his career working to connect communities with resources through the Oregon Governor’s Office programs, including Regional Solutions and Business Oregon. “When the governor began organizing Regional Solutions divisions across the state, we were eager to be a part of the program. We provided office space on campus for their staff and that’s when I started working more closely with Scott,” Seydel recalled.

Fairley was raised in Pendleton, and dedicated himself to helping people and communities. According to friends and colleagues, he truly understood rural and urban issues and served the public across the state and in his hometown throughout his life. He unexpectedly passed away in December of 2020 at the age of 53, but his legacy continues. “He was such a kind, good person. He always found possibility instead of impossibility,” Seydel said.

“I knew Scott for a number of years before his passing,” Bonzani reminisced. “My sister and I worked in his home and occasionally walked his lovely dogs, Truman and Pearl!” Scott was described as a devoted family man who was heavily involved in his community and his hobbies. He graduated from Pendleton High School and the University of Oregon before beginning his career in public service. Scott worked for the Department of Transportation, and Department of Environmental Quality, served as an ombudsman in the Oregon Governor’s Office, and served on Pendleton’s City Council and Planning and Airport Commission.

Upon his passing, a colleague of Scott’s established a memorial scholarship at EOU to honor their urban-rural collaborations and their friendship. “We are honoring Scott’s legacy in eastern Oregon,” Nate Lowe, Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, shared. “The responses we hear from students who take the course is that it far exceeds their expectations and that it has led them to better appreciate the nuances and complexities of diverse communities in the state. This scholarship supports more students building bridges of understanding.”

“I know the good he did in his life, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to receive this scholarship,” Bonzani shared. “He would have been so happy to create this opportunity for students like me. I’m grateful that even years later, Scott is instrumental in teaching me valuable life lessons.”

Jose de Jesus Melendez went to college at the age of 27 in order to expand his career opportunities. By the time he graduated, education was both the journey and the destination.

Born and raised in a remote village in Mexico with no electricity or services of any kind, Melendez said he  was barely literate in his own language when he came to the U.S. He attended first through fourth grade, but those years were constantly interrupted.

“The teachers assigned to our village were not willing to teach school there,” Melendez said. “We would get a young teacher who would stay a couple months and then leave. Then there would be several months before we would get another teacher.”

When he was 15 Melendez came to the U.S. The oldest child in his family, it was his responsibility to join his uncles in California and make money to help support the family in Mexico. He said he worked in the Greater Salinas Valley for many years in the produce industry. By the time he was 24, he was still struggling to master the English language.

“I started to feel a strong desire to access systems that were obviously English-only systems of employment,” Melendez said.

Melendez said he started focusing on learning English, bought books and was Sesame Street’s No. 1 fan.

“I was glued to the TV to learn from that little program,” Melenedz said.

Eventually, learning English wasn’t enough and Melendez wanted an education. At 27, while living in Southern Oregon, he hurt his back while doing migrant labor work. He wanted to improve his situation and while reflecting on what to do next, he was encouraged to enter a 12-week, on-campus, GED program at the University of Oregon. But there were obstacles.

“When I showed up they said the program was for recent high school dropouts who were no older than 20, but I convinced them to let me stay,” Melendez said.

One of his teachers, Donna Wong, had also come to the U.S. as a child and understood the language and culture barriers. She helped him navigate the system and was integral in his success not only earning a GED, he said, but getting him to apply to college. He received a full scholarship to what was then called Southern Oregon State College in Ashland.

Lack of education and cultural differences continued to present challenges for Melendez.

“I was struggling so much I almost dropped out,” Melendez said. “I didn’t have the background to carry the class load.”

While at Southern Oregon, his counselor helped him get into appropriate academic classes and steered him toward EOU and its bilingual education minor. Melendez jumped at the suggestion, but what he expected to be a program taught in two languages turned out to be an English for Speakers of Other Languages minor. He felt isolated and again considered dropping out of school.

“The EOU Ambassadors Coordinator, Mindy Morrison, told me, ‘No, you are not leaving, end of story.’ She convinced me that going to college was the greatest missed opportunity I would ever have.”

Morrison helped Melendez navigate a system that confused him and pointed him to the Learning Center and tutoring programs.

“I was their best customer, getting help with science, math, and geography,” Melendez said.

With the transfer and the extra year of classes necessary to teach school, Melendez finished his degree in five years. During his student teaching stint in Ontario, he kept an eye out for a job working with second language learning students. He was hired to teach dual language split kindergarten and first grade classes.

“They had a contract for me to sign before I finished student teaching,” Melendez said. 

There was a lot of regional interest in my teaching career. Local newspapers covered his first day in the classroom.

Education was no longer the path to a lifelong career for Melendez—it was the career and a calling as a student and a teacher. He taught elementary school for several years and earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with emphasis on English Language Learner education. 

Wanting to move into administration, Melendez earned another master’s degree in educational leadership. He became an elementary principal. Still hungry for learning, he went on to earn an Educational Specialist Degree, culminating with his superintendent credentials.

He helped open a new school in Mesa County in Colorado, then returned to the Northwest to serve the Meridian School District outside of Boise. His next stop was Washington state before coming to La Grande last year to head up the school district as its Director of Student Success.

He said the position is to assist families, connect them with community resources and help students be successful in La Grande’s K12 system.

“Our initiative is to create a culture of care,” Melendez said. “We make sure children are socially and emotionally healthy. We watch carefully and monitor when we include or exclude students and why.”

The other part of his job is coaching the district’s elementary school principals.

“I really love that part,” Melendez said. “When I was a school principal I needed coaches, too.”

The successful lifelong learner and educator, Melendez said he had some discouragement along the way, but chose to focus on the positive reinforcement he received.

Melendez said , “People would ask, ‘Why are you struggling here? You could go back to where you came from and you would be way better off.’ But I relied on the folks who gave me life and hope because they wanted what was best for me.”

After 12 years of working in traditional Hopi homelands at the , Sarah Herve, ’03, got to introduce a group of young people from the Indigenous tribe to her own origins in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The trip was part of the summer internship program that Herve founded with fellow park ranger and alumnus Todd (Tatsuya) Hisaichi, ’92. They worked together in northern Arizona implementing education programs for kids and teens in the Petrified Forest National Park. Hisaichi had been wondering for a while about how to better include indigenous groups like the Hopi, Zuni and Dine (Navajo) in the park, and a grant opportunity arose that allowed them to do just that.

“I thought that we could have a better partnership with Native American tribes, since the park is surrounded by tribes and it’s an ancestral homeland for many tribes, but we didn’t have any targeted programs then,” he said.

With $15,000 from the National Park Foundation, he and Herve launched the first Native Conservation Corps (NCC) crew in 2011 with seven Dine teens. The high school students lived in the park, received a stipend, and shared aspects of their culture with visitors during ranger talks. They also pursued job skills in a variety of areas.

“Parks have a wide range of career options: law enforcement, IT, customer service, scientists, it goes on,” Hisaichi said. “They can represent their culture to the public in national parks, so people can have a better understanding of the place they’re visiting while students develop public speaking skills.”

Participants chose a range of cultural practices to share, from hair and clothing, to ceremonial structures, foods, and storytelling. They introduced themselves in their own languages and using traditional names.

“It may have been the first time those languages were heard in the park because for a long time it was forbidden,” Hisaichi said.

Herve explained that from the 1880s to the 1920s the U.S. mandated that Native American children attend boarding schools, where they were punished for speaking native languages.

“Hearing them introduce themselves in the traditional way, by talking about who their mothers and grandmothers are—I get chills thinking about it,” Herve said.

Their visit to Herve’s hometown was also laced with the reverberations of oppression. The group went to and land, a location that carries heavy history for Hopi people.

“Perceptive people noticed the significance of this endeavor,” Hisachi said. “When I went with the Hopi students to Alcatraz, people who were aware of the history were excited to see some justice done.”

He explained that Native American communities were sanctioned for refusing to send their children to boarding schools, and Alcatraz served as a military prison where Hopi elders were held for defying the government mandate.

“The history is so well-hidden that many Hopi are not even aware of this,” Hisaichi said. “It was a chance to explore this history with those students and contemplate the whole history, not a selective or sanitized version.”

“We’re not here to just talk about just the happy bits of history,” Herve added. “Interpretation is also provocation. We hope to help people connect to these places that have been set aside for future generations in ways that affect them in their hearts and in their gut. Sometimes that can be parts of history that are disgusting or difficult, but have to be shared.”

Visitors seem to agree with her. Upwards of 70 people attended the students’ ranger talks when the program hosted a crew at Muir Woods, while others interacted with the NCC at Glen Canyon.

“Visitors found it amazing and were very curious about the program and the kids,” Herve said. “There are people in our country who think that all Native Americans live in teepees, and that’s so incredibly wrong and missing out on so much diversity. Different tribes have their own languages, dances, creation stories, ceremonial costumes—it’s rich, and visitors get a lot out of that.”

Although Herve and Hisaichi never crossed paths at EOU, they’ve since discovered a myriad of commonalities. Herve earned her degree primarily through distance education courses while she worked at the John Day Fossil Beds. Hisaichi was an international student from Japan, and attended on-campus. He said Mountaineers share a set of values and a level of trust.

“EOU attracts certain people,” Hisaichi said. “It’s a special place, and that shows in the people who went there and graduated. EOU is a beacon for people who make a difference in the world.”

“Going through [distance education] has 100% made me the kind of self-motivated employee that I am for the park service,” Herve said. “I’m able to champion things, get things done.”

That attitude brought the NCC to life.

While the first summer program included all Dine students, the following years have integrated young people from different tribes. Hisaichi said he hopes this practice opens lines of communication and encourages friendships among students who wouldn’t otherwise meet.

Now, Herve and Hisaichi hope to see the program replicated at other parks. “Every park is the ancestral land of some tribe or tribes,” Hisaichi said. “Each tribe is unique, but they share the same challenges to thrive amid the dominant culture.”

Ten years of NCC crews have yielded impressive results. Herve said participants have gone on to study or work in conservation, criminal justice, biology, archeology and other subjects related to their internship experience.

“One young person at a time, it starts to have a broader impact,” she said. “They’re going into professions and bringing [their culture] with them.”

Tabitha and Winnie go everywhere together. They both love Mountie football games, and being each other’s chemistry lab partners. They’re both disability services aides with plans to work in nursing one day. They even have the same birthday. 

Winnie is a medical alert service dog who accompanies EOU student Tabitha Compton to classes, an on-campus job, and even chemistry labs. Compton’s disability is an invisible one, and Winnie’s assistance is the only aspect of it most people see.

“Even when she’s napping, [Winnie] is still aware of me the whole time: listening and smelling and being in tune with me,” Compton said. “Sometimes I choose to go places without her, but I usually choose to keep her close because she keeps me safe.” 

Since the two first got together in December 2017, Compton has enjoyed expanded freedom and peace of mind. Winnie can sense a medical situation before it occurs, alerting Compton to take proactive steps.

“It’s made such a difference having the freedom of not worrying constantly, and being able to avoid situations that could be dangerous for my health,” Compton said. 

Their powerful partnership is only one factor in Compton’s success on campus. The two attended a community college shortly after teaming up, but without additional support things went south. 

“I didn’t know who to go to for help and I was seriously lost,” she said. “At EOU, I didn’t experience that at all.”

Staff from the Disability Services Office (DSO) emailed Compton the day after she submitted an application. 

“Starting at a new school is intimidating, and they just took out all the questions before I even asked them,” Compton said. “[The DSO] had everything I needed in that moment and I really appreciated that willingness to jump in with me and give me the one-on-one attention I needed to get set up at the university.”

Today, Compton provides essential support for her peers as a student worker in the DSO. She transcribes lectures, proctors tests and connects students with accommodations. The DSO is housed under the Learning Center, which also offers tutoring, study groups and a computer lab. 

“The DSO and Learning Center are what keep me at EOU,” Compton said. “If it wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be here.” 

Compton plans to complete her pre-nursing requirements, and enroll in the OHSU School of Nursing’s La Grande Campus next year. She hopes to specialize in pediatric psychology and help people diagnosed with conditions that aren’t visible on the surface.

“I’m an average-looking person—I don’t look like I have a disability, but I do have one,” she said. “People see me with a service animal and they think I’m blind. There’s a huge disconnect where it can create a lot of issues for disabled individuals, and I want to be someone who helps with that. People can look ‘normal,’ but have a lot going on. There’s a larger population of people dealing with invisible illnesses and disabilities than we consider as a society.”

Compton chose EOU and the OHSU program for their small size and personalized approach. Getting to know professors and peers in her cohort guarantee an individualized education.

“I can have a one-on-one connection with my professors, and they can take the time because they don’t have enormous class sizes,” she said. 

But Compton and her companion find a way to fit in every crowd—bundled up at a November football game or conducting experiments in a chemistry lab. The only four-legged lab partner on campus comes with some special equipment. Winnie wears goggles, booties and a raincoat so she can safely do her job and stay close to Compton.

“Having a service animal and being in a science-based major can get a little bit tricky with lab environments,” Compton said. “They made sure I would still have the opportunity to be successful even though having a service animal in those environments is kind of unconventional.” 

At work, play and study, Compton has a sidekick she can count on. And both of them have a campus community that supports their ongoing success.

Follow Winnie on Instagram !

Note: Since this story was written, the Board of Trustees met on Nov. 12 and voted unanimously to remove Pierce from the Library’s name. Read the news story here: eou.edu/news-press/board-approves-budget-de-names-library.

Before spring term ended last June, over 100 EOU students joined several hundred community members in making their voices heard in a public forum. drew attention on a Tuesday afternoon, but student leaders had already been at work on a poignant racial equity issue for years. 

EOU students tapped into a legacy of campus activism in 2018 when student body leaders passed a that questioned the appropriateness of an EOU building named for former Oregon governor Walter Pierce. This resolution, combined with a , led President Tom Insko to form a committee of students, faculty and staff to review the naming issue. 

This fall, after two years of academic research and community involvement, the EOU Board of Trustees will vote on whether to alter the library’s name. 

Now a senior studying public health and psychology, Andrea Camacho has been a strong voice in these conversations since the ASEOU resolution. Camacho was joined on the committee by fellow student Joel Chin, library faculty member Katie Townsend, ’06, and history professor Rebecca Hartman. The committee was chaired by Vice President for University Advancement Tim Seydel.

Learning by committee

Together, they were tasked with investigating Walter and Cornelia Pierce’s public stances on inclusion and recommending a course of action. 

The processes of public institutions are often at odds with the passion of student leaders, but Camacho remained persistent. For over a year, committee members met to discuss recent findings, review Pierce documents and materials, delve into previous research and collect input from peers. When COVID-19 emerged in early 2020, the committee’s long-anticipated visit to the state archives had to be cancelled. 

“I had to learn the process,” Camacho said. “This conversation has been happening since 1999—I was born in 1999.”

Over 20 years ago, a committee of EOU faculty investigated Pierce’s history and found no convincing evidence that he was affiliated with Ku Klux Klan. They concluded that, while he cultivated the Klan vote, he was not a member, and that there was not sufficient reason to rename the library. The also identified Cornelia Pierce’s role as Oregon’s state librarian. The university moved to rename the building “Pierce Library.”

The 1999 committee did not include student input, but for the last two years Camacho has solicited feedback from her classmates, continuing to elevate student voices.

“I had conversations with , Speel-Ya and Navigators Club,” she said. “These students were dumbfounded that EOU just hadn’t changed the name yet.”

Community members, employees, students and alumni also shared their input through an online form.

Townsend, who has overheard students’ discomfort with the library’s name throughout her 12 years as an employee, said she hoped to collect evidence that could serve as a reference point for questions that surface regularly.

“I really appreciated having students on the committee, to hear from them and see them continue to push for this, and go through the process, which takes so much longer than any of us want it to usually,” Townsend said. “It doesn’t move as fast as students expect or want, and they figured out how to persevere and stay passionate about it.” 

Hartman agreed that student participation strengthens EOU’s liberal arts approach to graduating well-rounded, engaged citizens. Hartman said she saw students become educators for faculty, staff and administrators, and they continued to agitate from outside the committee, posting an. 

“Students did have to tussle with that lesson of how to bend the system to your will, how to work the process and the system,” she said. “It’s easy for institutions not to listen to voices that want change, not because of ill-will but because it’s easier to not change. I was impressed not just by their passion, but their tenacity.”

Busting misconceptions

Pierce governed Oregon from 1922 to 1926. He also spent 10 years in the U.S. Congress and two terms in the state senate. 

Townsend said historical records list him as an honorary member of the KKK and show that he cultivated the group’s support in his gubernatorial campaign. No conclusive evidence of his KKK membership was found, but Townsend said this particular facet of the controversy can distract from other important questions. 

“Some past discussions seemed to only consider his Klan membership, but there’s so much that is concerning,” Townsend said. “His speeches and actions show racist views toward so many groups that continued for his whole career. The Klan membership question is part of his history that should be examined, but the conversation needs to be expanded.”

recounts a thorough investigation of Pierce’s legacy saying, “We conclude that regardless of the question of his Klan membership, Pierce’s support of the [anti-Catholic] Compulsory School bill, his and Cornelia’s successful campaign for forced sterilization [of people with mental illnesses], his vote against a federal anti-lynching law, and his sustained assault upon the civil liberties of Japanese-Americans are clear evidence of the Pierces’ discriminatory actions and values.”

They found that while Pierce supported agriculture and infrastructure, he did so exclusively for the benefit of white Oregonians. 

The committee report reads, “For Pierce, civil liberties, due process, and democratic processes were not universal rights and principles but rather, entitlements of white Protestant Americans. However one might attempt to historically ‘contextualize’ these values, even in the early 20th Century, and certainly by the mid-century, the Pierces’ commitment to exclusionary racial policies reflected a strain of racist ideology that was increasingly rejected by Americans. We see no way to reconcile such a legacy with the values and goals of our university.”

In his 2020 Convocation address to staff and faculty, EOU President Tom Insko shared insights from a friend of the university who responded to concerns about erasing history.

“His words were: ‘This is not an exercise in rewriting history. History cannot be re-written, only our perceptions of what our collective histories mean to us can be revised. This decision is about whose lives and philosophies we in the 21st Century choose to celebrate and honor. 

“It is one thing to accept that people lived in their times and must be judged in that context. It is quite another thing to continue to honor a century later people who we know in our hearts were wrong, and whose actions generated a divided society we are struggling to this day to correct.’”

A pillar for change

“I believe it’s time for us to drop the name Pierce from the library, but we need to approach this in such a way that it allows for inclusion and many points of view because there are many out there that disagree with that perspective,” Insko said. 

The committee’s report has been submitted to Insko and he’ll make a to the Board of Trustees at its Nov. 12 meeting. As a public meeting, community members, students and employees are invited to provide testimony on the issue. 

At the close of a long process and following 66 years of contentious debate, committee members see an opportunity for EOU to fully embrace its mission, values and principles. 

“We used the EOU mission statement to frame our analysis of the Pierces’ legacy and we concluded that their legacy fundamentally conflicts with the university’s mission,” Hartman said. “Part of what we do as an institution of higher learning is examine, reflect and think about ways our history can be an opportunity to learn about ourselves, and make choices about what we want to stand for. Denaming the library empowers us to move past our history and work toward a more equitable and inclusive future.”

The professors who co-authored the 1999 report now favor de-naming the building, which Hartman attributes to increased awareness of how systemic racism is entrenched through cultural symbols like building names. Hartman added that student activism has aided a general seachange in public opinion regarding racial equity, oppression and how to remember historical figures. 

“It’s a testament that EOU is doing what it’s supposed to do: creating critical thinkers engaged in the world around them,” Hartman said. “The fact that students have spearheaded this should encourage us and give us hope. We are, in fact, doing our jobs because students are equipped to change the world.”

Camacho, who anticipates earning her degree in spring, embodies that success. She acquired letters of support, not just from peers, but from the . Her efforts to educate the community resulted in wider awareness that spurred public action. 

“I don’t have a Ph.D., I’m not a historian, but I do know what’s right and what’s wrong,” Camacho said. “For the past two years, this is all I’ve wanted from EOU. We need something to show that EOU is moving in the right direction.”

In her final year on campus, she said this particular decision could stand as a pillar for change as higher education follows its students into the future. 

First, someone brings her the head of an animal. It might be skinned or not, sometimes it’s half-rotten. She cuts out the soft tissue, that’s the eyes, tongue, brain and any other meat still attached to the bone.

Then the dermestid beetles get it. A fast moving colony of hundreds of thousands of insects gnaw away every last shred of tissue. Next is the challenging, time-consuming and expensive part. She plunges the skull into a hot, soapy bath, where it degreases for weeks, or even months, until the suds have sucked out all of its natural greasiness.

Finally, the clean, dry skull gets a whitening treatment and a coat of clear sealant. It’s been about two months, at least, for a typical animal, but much longer for a greasy animal such as a grizzly bear.

Lauren Hull, who graduated from EOU in 2011, uses creative problem-solving skills from her art degree to transform cows, buffalo, elk, deer, bear, dogs, cats, wolverines, skunks, weasels, badgers, foxes, wildebeest, antelope, monkeys, coyotes, moose and much more into European mounts.

From her studio in Alicel, Oregon, she cleans hundreds of skulls every year. Hull’s Skulls counts hunters and trappers among its clientele, as well as Western decor enthusiasts and taxidermists. Sometimes people even bring her their deceased pets.

Her skill set has developed over the last nine years, and she experiments with different chemical concoctions during her slow season to further refine her process. This scientific approach melds well with her artistic background, Hull said.

“People like to joke about how I would never put my art degree to good use, but I use it all the time!” she said. “Sometimes I get skulls that I need to completely reconstruct, or antlers that I need to graft seamlessly onto skulls. I also have to articulate entire skeletons and create missing pieces. Every season I encounter several problems that I have to use my artistic mind to fix.”

Plus, she gets a lot of requests for her hand-painted pieces. Hull’s distinct style features geometric designs, bold colors and Swarovski Crystals.

She cleans and paints the skulls in a converted barn on her family’s ranch that she renovated as a studio space, while her big black lab watches from a comfy couch. The walls are lined with tiny, white skulls, all eye sockets and toothy grins. A one-of-a-kind chandelier made of 300 coyote skulls hangs overhead.

As a senior art student at EOU, Hull purchased her first beetle colony to clean the fine bones of small animal skeletons, which she carefully re-constructed to look like dragons and other impossible creatures. During her senior exhibition, a taxidermist recognized the technique of using dermestid beetles and skeletal articulations, and approached her about additional work. Her beetles have rarely been bored since.

“My location has really allowed me to thrive,” Hull said. “I get skulls shipped to me from all over the U.S., but Eastern Oregon really is the prime location. Nearly my entire customer base has come from word-of-mouth referrals because the hunting community is so tight-knit. One of the best parts of my job is meeting people from the community and forming lasting relationships.”

The world met in April 2017, when one of Sesame Street’s newest muppets joined the cast as a 4-year-old with short red hair, green eyes and autism.

As her puppet peers learned to interact with Julia through art, so did young viewers and their parents. EOU alumnus George Thompson, ’02, had met her prior to the on-air debut. He collaborated with the to share the impact of music and drumming with special needs populations.

By that time, Thompson had spent nearly a decade teaching children and adults with developmental disabilities. Thompson earned degrees in anthropology and sociology at EOU, but music was always his passion. After producing two albums in New York City, he sought out a higher purpose. A trained social worker, Thompson taught in Ecuador, Thailand, Bulgaria and Korea before returning to the U.S. for a job at in California.

Thompson joined the nonprofit as its Music and Performance Arts Director. , serves individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.

As he began teaching music in special education classrooms, Thompson realized traditional music instruction and instruments weren’t reaching all of his students.

“I was making an impact, but I was extremely discouraged,” he said.

One of his students was a young man with autism named Chris, who was severely limited in speech and interpersonal communication.

“When I first met Chris he could only verbalize yes and no,” Thompson said. “He was reluctant to participate in group music classes, often plugging his ears, jumping and flapping his hands during lessons.”

One morning Chris got to school early and Thompson sat down at the piano to teach him a few chords, but within seconds Chris began jumping, flapping and running around the room. A few days later, Chris arrived early again.

“He sat down at the piano with me and played the three chords I had only showed him once,” Thompson said. “It opened my eyes to how the human mind works, and that through music you can reach people who seem unreachable.”

Chris later learned to read and write through music, performed Mozart, and played with Grammy-winning artists on stage.

“He was a catalyst for me,” Thompson said. “I had to step completely out of the box and create individualized and unique approaches for every student to revolutionize music-making for fun, health and wellness.”

Thompson began developing lesson plans to improve social skills, behavior and self-confidence through music. He cultivated partnerships with manufacturers and suggested modifications to guitars, drums, pianos and other musical instruments to make them more accessible.

Soon Thompson was a highly sought-after speaker worldwide. Collaborations with Taylor guitars, , and followed his success.

Finding the rhythm

During his nine years at TERI, he worked with 30 manufacturers on specialized musical instruments, but his relationship with and drums led to a newfound passion for percussion. Although his primary instrument is guitar, Thompson used drums frequently in classrooms.

“Drums are the easiest access point for people,” he said. “We function in rhythm naturally through breathing, talking, heartbeats, you name it.”

But the drums he’d found were disappointing. They required constant tuning, the membrane of the drumheads was difficult to clean, and the tones were often bothersome to sensory-sensitive students. He shared his concerns and ideas at Remo’s booth during a trade show, and got an invitation to meet the company’s owner, Remo Belli.

He soon learned that Remo had already begun to develop specialized technology to address these and other issues. Thompson worked with Remo staff for two years to test and refine the new drums.

In 2015, Remo Inc. released Comfort Sound Technology, a drumhead designed to deliver a unique quality of sound by suppressing high-frequency overtones. The focused low frequencies provide a comfortable sound that is ideal for sound-restrictive environments such as hospitals

or classrooms, and for working with individuals who find regular drums over-stimulating and too loud.

At just 31 Hertz, the vibrational, tactile tones of the massive 40-inch table drum allow profoundly deaf students to feel the beat. The large drum table set-up also promotes socialization for students who have a hard time making eye contact.

Taking it to the street

Remo signed Thompson as a health and wellness educational artist, and sent him on the road to promote the line of adaptive drums and accompanying videos and lesson plans. Through this new role, he connected with Sesame Street as they were preparing to debut Julia. He worked with Sesame Street to share the new curriculum and grant drums to schools and organizations across the U.S.

“It was so exciting to have Sesame Street involved because of their umbrella to reach so many schools and families,” Thompson said. “So much of the problem is that services and resources for people with autism are segmented across a number of disconnected organizations.”

Sesame Street’s broad appeal has helped relieve the stigma around autism over the past several years. Although

Thompson also worked with his students at TERI to promote the Sesame Street and Autism initiative. The TERI Band learned and incorporated it into their educational outreach. The band performed the song and provided the books to grade schools throughout San Diego County. Sesame Street even featured the group’s performances on its website and social media platforms.

Bringing it home

In April 2016, Remo Belli passed away, but Thompson said the impact of his partnership endures.

“These interactions [with Sesame Street and Autism] strengthen and honor Remo’s vision, legacy and mission of using music and playing drums for the betterment of humankind,” Thompson said.

After nearly 20 years away from home, Thompson returned to the Grande Ronde Valley with his wife to buy a house in Cove near his mom. He said he felt a call to use his expertise to serve people in need in his hometown. His new role as a member of the administrative council at the has afforded Thompson the opportunity to do just that.

“I hope to address stigmas around mental health and developmental disabilities that still persist in my home community,” Thompson said. “I want to improve accessibility and promote services that are available here.”

“I’ve always been interested in how art, science and technology crossover to create interactive experiences,” she said.

Neon District’s innovative approach integrates grassroots puzzle-solving with a new kind of utilitarian artistry. DeCourcelle, an art alumna turned creative technologist, stepped onto the Bitcoin scene in 2013 and realized that art could play a role in the emerging marketplace. Bitcoin mining involves a network of computers using algorithms to solve a puzzle. Why couldn’t people do something similar? So she created the first in 2014, a painting called .

“There’s a that lays out the whole trail, but the image is basically a portal to multiple platforms across the internet. It’s a rabbit hole that keeps leading you back to the painting for the next clue,” deCourcelle said. “I wanted to mimic the concept of Bitcoin mining by creating an image that holds secrets.”

The painting garnered huge attention and spawned a new outlet for the growing Bitcoin community. DeCourcelle is more interested in bringing people together around a digital puzzle than making money, she said. But her puzzles continue to serve tech companies and organizations by engaging users.

“The most incredible art pieces become special because of their lore,” she said. “The stories and secrets you can unravel take art beyond something nice to look at, into something you can interact with.”

A puzzle created specially for the EOU community. The answer is an Ethereum private key that gives access to about $200 worth of $ETH. This puzzle uses a cipher.

After graduating from EOU, deCourcelle focused on traditional fine art for about four years before moving to the very cutting edge of what curators consider artwork. DeCourcelle said the crypto-puzzles demonstrated, “you can pull value out of art.” But she’s not talking about the price of paintings hung in a gallery. DeCourcelle trades in art with utility.

If an artist creates a texture for a jacket that video game characters wear, every time players trade or re-sell the jacket, a fee goes to the artist. DeCourcelle said consumers, sellers and artists all win with this decentralized arrangement, in which digital assets maintain their bond with the original artist. Likewise, players in this system own the game assets they invest in, and can carry them into other games. The idea has been around for decades, but recent advances in blockchain technology make it possible to monetize the exchanges.

DeCourcelle, a fine art major who now uses her skills in digital media, founded Blockade Games in early 2018. Today it employs over a dozen people across the globe and produces several blockchain-based games and interactive experiences.

“Blockchain is to Bitcoin, what the internet is to email,” Technology Reporter Sally Davies said. “A big electronic system, on top of which you can build applications. Currency is just one.”

Blade Runner meets Terminator in Neon District, the company’s largest undertaking yet. The party-based role-playing game sends a group of characters, equipment and other assets through a series of challenges against robot enemies. Unlike other video games, weapons, clothing and armor in Neon District evolve with each triumph or defeat, and become more valuable as gameplay progresses.

The allows players to buy, sell and trade the crypto-collectibles among peers and across platforms. Industries from stock trading, to business contracts, voting polls, file storage, identity protection, and land title registration could soon benefit from the transparency and security of blockchains.

Blockade Games employs a number of independent artists, fulfilling deCourcelle’s aim of freeing her peers from the paradox set up by the conventional art world. She said creative technologists have often been excluded from opportunities to make a living from their most innovative work. Her company opens the door for artists and developers to invest in passion projects without sacrificing their own financial stability.

“Video games aren’t considered fine art, but 50 percent

of game development is really intense art production,” she said.

DeCourcelle oversees game development for all of the company’s products, including its free mini-games like Plasma Bears and the Pineapple Arcade. She also heads its strategic marketing and fundraising efforts. , which launches a private beta version on May 1, is already valued at more than $13 million.

“Making a video game, especially a fun one, is very difficult,” deCourcelle said.

As the company has grown, deCourcelle has learned to navigate the rocky terrain of managing finances, employees and production simultaneously. She said early mistakes taught her to identify the organization’s priorities and adapt quickly to change.

“That’s the thing about being an entrepreneur,” she said. “You have to take hard hits, then get back up and try to do better. That’s the differentiator between being successful or not.”

Blockade’s staff is fully distributed: they all work online, meet through video calls, and maintain ongoing chat threads that keep team members in touch. The company’s business model mirrors the blockchain itself, decentralizing an entire office. The TechStars incubator connects start-ups with “a network of people who will be successful alongside” one another. This spring, deCourcelle’s team is one of just 10 young companies participating in the New York City accelerator’s blockchain-focused program.

“We’re in a good position to show vision for the industry and it’s exciting to be there as a pioneer,” deCourcelle said. “We want to help steer the course of where these blockchain applications can go in a crossover with game development.”

Four college friends left Eastern Oregon College and scattered across the U.S.: Satwant lives in California now, Sami is outside Washington D.C., Riad’s out in Ohio, and Sally lives near her mother in La Grande. But when they get together, it’s like no time has passed at all.

This year their reunion was inspired by Riad’s “dear, departed brother,” Fouad Ajami, ’68,who received the EOU Alumni Association’s 2018 Distinguished Alumnus Award for his work as a scholar and political advisor on the world stage.

The group gathered to receive the award at Homecoming and celebrate his memory. In 50 years of changing locations, occupations and relationships, they’ve all held onto a special fondness for Eastern Oregon.

Two of the bunch, Sally (Brownton) Wiens, ’66, and her sister Carol, ’64, grew up in La Grande, where their father was a well-known judge. Sally remembers bringing her friends from the International Student Club to her parents’ neighborhood get-togethers, and said those bonds were an integral part of their experience.

“We’ve been a college town for so long,” she said. “We know that we benefit from learning new things, and from the diversity people bring.”

Sally enrolled at Eastern Oregon College in 1962, and Riad Ajami arrived in January 1963.

“I was the first person from the Middle East, from Lebanon, to attend Eastern,” he said. “People were kind, and I felt very welcomed.”

He had first seen information about Oregon at the John F. Kennedy Center in Lebanon, and sent a letter to the registrar at EOC. His father was on-board to let Riad study abroad, but he was thinking France or England would do.

“I wanted the farthest place from home — Washington, Oregon or California,” Riad said.

He and his younger brother, Fouad, had heard that the U.S. was a place of freedom and opportunity. Plus, maybe they could meet Elvis.

Riad Ajami in EOU’s 1965 yearbook.

Riad and his new roommate, Satwant Singh Thind, didn’t have much in common at first. Satwant, an international student from India and a member of the Sikh religion, wore turbans and a long beard, while Riad blended in more with his American peers.

Riad remembers Satwant asking: “You always have dates on the weekends, what about me?” Riad responded: “Satwant, I cannot date you.”

His first attempt to set Satwant up with a friend was thwarted by Satwant’s heavily scented beard wax, as well as his pungent breath.

“Between girls and garlic, he’d pick garlic,” Riad said.

Satwant eventually found a date who didn’t mind his beard or his breath: Carol (Brownton) Lindsay. The two went together when Carol returned to EOC to finish her degree.

On a trip to Walla Walla, Riad suggested that Satwant cut his beard and hair. But Satwant’s parents would stop his allowance if the annual photo he sent revealed that he’d shaved.

Satwant Thind in the 1963 yearbook.

“So I brought six shirts and six turbans to a photographer, and we did photos with each different outfit,” Riad said. “I told him, ‘Now your education is assured.’”

Satwant and Riad soon met the rest of the Browntons, and when the girls’ parents embarked on a world tour in 1964, Riad’s parents were ready and waiting to greet their son’s American friends.

“My dad attended a World Peace Through Law conference in Greece for a week,” Sally said. “And they made it a seven-week ’round-the-world trip, including a stop in Lebanon.”

Riad’s uncle, a member of the Lebanese parliament, greeted the Brownton’s alongside the police chief, whose son Sami Asfahani was Riad’s childhood friend. During that meal, Riad’s parents found out their son wasn’t studying medicine like he’d promised, but was preparing for a career in engineering.

Sally (Brownton) Wiens in the 1969 yearbook.

“My dad stopped sending me money,” Riad said. “He read me the riot act, but it all worked out in the end.”

Riad went on to graduate from Western Michigan University, and then earned his master’s and doctorate degrees. He started as an assistant professor at Ohio State University, and has since held positions at prestigious institutions such as Harvard University. He is an expert on the petroleum economy, teaching at Wright State University while conducting research, publishing books, and hosting clinics around the world.

But the Browntons’ trip had other effects. Sami and Fouad decided to study in La Grande, too, and arrived in 1965.

“Suddenly La Grande became a hub for Lebanese and Middle Eastern students,” Riad said.

He had taken a Greyhound bus from Portland to La Grande, and he suggested Sami do the same. But Sami and two other students had a different idea. They hired a taxi to drive them 260 miles from the Portland airport all the way to campus.

“I was in Hoke Hall trying to find coffee or Coke or a date or something, and this car pulls up that says Portland and Sami got out,” Riad said. “The story started circulating in town about these rich foreign students who paid a taxi to drive them from Portland to La Grande.”

Fouad Ajami was a more serious student than his big brother, and graduated from EOC in just three years.

“Fouad was smarter than I’ll ever be,” Riad said.

Riad’s work earned him features in People magazine and on ABC News, but he said his brother’s famous connections far outstripped his own. After earning his Ph.D. from the University of Washington and taught Middle Eastern Studies at Johns Hopkins University, Princeton University and Stanford University.

He advised three sitting presidents and received the National Humanities Medal from George W. Bush in 2006. He was also a MacArthur Prize fellow and an advisor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

“Anderson Cooper interviewed Fouad extensively on CNN,” Riad said. “He knew more important people than most. He was my brother and my friend.”

Riad has established a scholarship through the EOU Foundation to honor his brother’s memory and his lasting connection to the region.

“La Grande was a wonderful place for us,” Riad said. “I love Eastern Oregon. It was an excellent experience for me, and a great beginning.”

Jace Billingsley is 5’9” and 189 pounds — among the shortest and lightest players on the Detroit Lions’ active roster — but he’s used to exceeding expectations.

Billingsley grew up in Winnemucca, Nev., a town of less than 8,000 that lies about six hours south of La Grande.

He was an all-state quarterback for the Lowry Buckaroos when he me Tim Camp, ��ݮ��Ƶ’s head football coach. Camp recognized Billingsley’s potential instantly at a summer football clinic.

“He was one of the hardest workers,” Camp said. “That stuck out most. He was going into his senior year, and he had this ability to work really hard and passionately.”

Billingsley joined the Mountaineers as a wide receiver in 2012. He broke a school record with 69 receptions the following year and continued to improve.

Billingsley found that many EOU professors and coaches invest in students the way Camp had first demonstrated.

“You could tell he cared a lot about the program and players — about everybody there,” Billingsley said.

At EOU, the community, small classes and genuine relationships kept Billingsley engaged on and off the field. He majored in history and found a role model in professor Ryan Dearinger.

“He is a great teacher and advisor… someone I could always talk to,” Billingsley said of Dearinger. “At EOU, coaches are looking after you on the field and helping you develop as a person, too.”

In his final season at EOU in 2015, Billingsley racked up 13 touchdowns for a team-high 78 points and made up his mind to take a shot at his childhood dream of playing professionally.

“As far back as I can remember, I always believed that [playing professionally] could happen,” he said. “Coming from a small high school and then a small college, I never knew it would happen — but I always knew I wanted to give it a shot.”

He started training for a Pro Day in Seattle, where NFL scouts could see him perform. In March 2016, he made an impressive showing with a 4.39-second 40-meter dash and 25 reps of a 225-pound bench press. A month later, on NFL Draft Day, Billingsley received a call from the Detroit Lions.

“It’s definitely a dream come true,” Billingsley said. “I was starting to get a little worried because [the call] was later in the day, but it’s such a big accomplishment to even have the opportunity to play for an NFL team.”

Reflecting on his time as a Mountaineer, Camp called Billingsley “a real Mountie,” and said he remains an inspiration to current and future student-athletes.

“You have to at least try and not be afraid of failure,” Billingsley said. “I hope my success motivates other EOU students to see that anything is within their reach.”

Since 2016, Billingsley has adapted to the more business-like atmosphere of the NFL. After 20 years of playing on small stages with big heart, he said it’s been an adjustment.

“It’s a competitive business,” he said. “And that’s what makes it tough, but that’s also what makes it great.”

After a show-stopping entry to the league in the 2016 preseason, Billingsley spent the better part of the regular season on the practice team. He topped the team’s preseason stats chart with 12 receptions for 146 yards in 2016, and returned to the active roster for six games in 2017.

He’s on the off-season active roster and maintaining the positive attitude he developed as a Mountie.

Billingsley still visits campus on a regular basis, and said EOU keeps getting better while maintaining the friendly environment that made it feel like home when we he was attending.

“What I love most about EOU is that everyone has respect for one another — in the classroom, on a team — everyone enjoys being with each other,” he said. “That’s something I always try to keep doing.”

One of the leading reasons Billingsley chose EOU was for the short distance from his hometown. However, his time in the blue and gold launched him to achieve his dream in stadiums across the country.

“A small school doesn’t mean small opportunities,” he said. “EOU is a great place to see yourself grow as student, a person and an athlete… and it goes really fast.”