Jeremy Skinner never imagined himself volunteering on the SWOCC Board of Education. These days he is attending meetings, learning about fiscal policies and strategizing on community college issues and advocacy.
“I signed on because I believe in what the college is doing and believe it is doing a good job. I would like to contribute to that,” Jeremy said.
His path to SWOCC actually started in 1979. He was born in Gold Beach. A lot of people who have children here, just assume they will move away when they finish high school. Jeremy did. They hope their children will move back, but most never do, except Jeremy.
After high school and thinking he would go into science, as a botanist, he moved away for college. First to attend Portland State and then University of Washington, and there switched to a different science – library science. That led him to a job working with archives and rare books. He wasn’t particularly happy, and he and his wife, Phoebe, a teacher, decided to move closer to family. He got the job managing the Gold Beach Public Library.
When you live in a small town, you get asked to volunteer. He started on the College’s budget committee and before long agreed to fill a vacancy on the SWOCC Board. He believes the College is an economic driver, particularly in training the health care workforce.
“The demographics have changed a lot since I grew up. When I was growing up, the graduating class at Gold Beach High School was 70. Now it’s 30 or 35,” he said. “There are fewer families that have middle class jobs.”
He likes that SWOCC has a campus in Curry and provides a way for young people to train for better jobs that help them afford to live here. He wants to see even more connection between the College and high schools. It helps young people gain familiarity with college and job training, and be more confident.
Over time, more older people on fixed incomes have moved to the region, and Jeremy is one to ask: “How do we serve these folks? How do we include them?” He’s pleased to see the community education programs at the campus and in the future would like to see more engagement in arts and culture. He expects to have time to work on that. He’s not going anywhere.
“I want to have a job that impacts people on a daily basis. I want to give back to the community in the work I do. It’s not a chore. It’s fun. And, it’s a beautiful place, too.”
