SEED students may be uprooted

The SEED (Scholarship for Education and Economic Development) program, a visible part of MHCC for the last 25 years, could vanish by 2015 along with other SEED programs across the country.

The federal agency that funds SEED, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), recently announced it does not plan to continue funding the SEED program, said Nikki Gillius, Mt. Hood’s SEED coordinator.

The federal money provides full scholarships for international students, primarily from rural communities, to attend MHCC, living expenses included, for two years.

Should the national funding for SEED vanish, no new students would be arriving at MHCC. Current first-year students (in 2013-14) would be able to finish the program.

“I think it’s important that people know this is not a Mt. Hood thing,” Gillius said of the program’s possible demise.

She has issued a plea for SEED supporters to rally support among Oregon’s federal lawmakers to save the program.

“The efforts that we’re making are to encourage people to reach out to our senators and representatives,” Gillius said. “Our Oregon reps have all been very supportive.”

Gillius said Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, signed a letter to USAID in support of the SEED program. U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Portland, also sent a letter of support.

Gillius is urging people to thank Oregon representatives for their support and share their experiences with SEED.

She described SEED participants as “students that really overcame obstacles and gender issues, all kinds of things, to finish high school and then to come here.”

“These students come from backgrounds where paying for a bus to go to the capital city is not in their budget,” she said.

Gillius said the role SEED students play locally in the community, as well as on the MHCC campus, is enormous.“I can’t even image the void that will be left when the program ends. Our students are involved in clubs, they’re involved in student government… (they) help students who have never met someone from Haiti learn a little bit of French or learn a little bit of the history.”

SEED students conduct community service and participate in internships while at Mt. Hood. But, more important, each student develops a community action project designed to address a pressing issue in his or her home community and implements it upon returning.

Gillius said the projects are uplifting, in several ways. “For them to go back… the empowerment that it shows a community — that things are possible” leaves a lasting mark, she said.

“They are here because they want to be here and this is the chance of a lifetime,” she said of the SEED students “I think that energy is felt.”