Returning face on campus

Al Sigala is back on campus, and he aims to make the college shine.

Sigala returned to Mt. Hood on Jan. 2 as the executive director of the MHCC Foundation.

He previously worked at Mt. Hood for 11 years as the director of media and public relations, until his position was eliminated in 2009.

He then served as vice president of community relations at Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest.

“It’s great to have that opportunity to come back here, because I believe in the mission,” Sigala said of his return to Mt. Hood, engineered by first-year President Debbie Derr, a former colleague of his at the Gresham campus.

“I’m a product of the mission, and I know the president really well and believe in her and her strategies,” Sigala said.

He said his goal at MHCC is to improve involvement both internally, through staff and students, and externally, with community members, in the foundation. The foundation funds student scholarships and helps supply new classroom equipment.

To do so, he is proposing events such as a bowling fundraiser where any individual could join a team and also try to raise $100 apiece with the help of software to reach out to friends.

Sigala predicted the event will not only be a “great morale builder” but also a “great community party.”

He said despite the need for new money, his job is more about bringing people together.

Derr announced the creation of Sigala’s position in an all-staff email sent Dec. 20, saying, “The Board, the Foundation Board and I see tremendous opportunity for the Foundation to take a much more active role in resource development.

“By necessity, this goes beyond fundraising for student scholarships, and toward fundraising for infrastructure investments that also support student success. The college has many needs in the areas of facilities, technology and special projects.

“Unfortunately, we can no longer rely solely on state aid and tuition for funding,” Derr wrote.

Sigala said a close partnership with the college is one of his priorities: “It’s not only holding more events, it’s working better with the college… knowing what the college needs.”

“We’re here for the students. Let’s celebrate that,” he said. “Let’s all join in on the effort to not only make college affordable through scholarships, but (also) to work toward bettering our classrooms.”

Sigala said he wants to make MHCC the center of events for east Multnomah County, such as concerts and the like.

He said he is contemplating moving the Foundation’s annual auction, dinner and dance event back to MHCC. In recent years it has been hosted at the Red Lion Hotel at Jantzen Beach, where it will be held on April 26 this year.

To Sigala, the mission of MHCC community college is personal: Without community colleges, he would not have been able to attend a university, he said. “The community college system is what gave me a possibility to go to college.”

Sigala said bringing the college and local community together would help inspire the area to once again call MHCC the “Jewel of East County” – one that he hopes to see shine for a while.

“I’d love to retire here. To me, this is a dream job,” he said. “I’m doing what I really enjoy doing.”