Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

College picked by CNN.com for "Campus Vibe"project

Photos and story by James Hill

PORTLAND, Ore. – CNN.com has chosen Portland Community College and its student-run Bridge newspaper to cover the 2004 presidential race from a student perspective for their Campus Vibe project. PCC is the only two-year college in the country chosen to participate. In addition to PCC, 12 universities from across the country, including Michigan State, City College of New York and the University of Missouri, will participate in the project.PCC student Christy Moorehouse, an assistant editor of the Bridge as well as a staff writer, will contribute to the project for PCC. In an interview in the Bridge, Moorehouse said, "To tell you the truth, I really wanted to do it but didn’t think that I was going to be the one. They kind of set me up. Needless to say, I was giddy when I heard the news."Moorehouse, a northeast Portland resident, is studying journalism and creative writing at PCC and plans to earn a certificate in journalism as well as an associate’s degree from PCC. She plans to transfer to a university, possibly the University of Missouri, and eventually earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism. The 26-year-old Chicago native moved to the Northwest five years ago. She enrolled in PCC two years ago and has been juggling school, working full time and writing for the student newspaper. She is also a licensed body piercer with her own business. Moorehouse attends both Sylvania and Cascade campuses."PCC has been really good to me,"said Moorehouse. "The instructors have been interested in my work. I don’t know where I’d be without them. They have an open-door policy and have steered me to venues to get published. They’ve also helped me tighten up my writing. Plus, I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the classics that I should have read earlier in my life."CNN.com will be running a 450-500-word article of Moorehouse’s on its Web site approximately one time per week. Moorehouse said CNN has told her they would like her to focus on the political vibrations of the PCC student body, the staff and the community.In her article in the Bridge, she stated, "I’d like to help educate the public as much as possible so we can all make informed decisions. I intend on questioning everything, researching a lot and reporting the facts I find."