Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

For third straight year, PCC student selected New Century Scholar

Photos and story by James Hill

Elijah Herr, a state All-USA Academic Team member and Governor’s Scholar, was named the New Century Scholar for the state of Oregon through the two-year honor society Phi Theta Kappa. This isn’t bad for a Portland Community College student who has been away from a classroom for more than a decade.

Since enrolling in college in 2004, the 33-year-old has cultivated a 4.0 grade-point average. He is currently student body president for the Cascade Campus and serves as district chair for PCC’s District Student Council. Herr has made the President’s List nine consecutive terms and is an active member of Phi Theta Kappa.

The New Century Scholars program is an extension of the All-USA Academic Team. The highest-scoring student in each state in the All-USA Academic Team competition is named a New Century Scholar and receives a $2,000 stipend funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Herr will be honored at the American Association of Community Colleges convention in Philadelphia, Penn., April 5-7. As a New Century Scholar, Herr will represent all community college students from Oregon at the AACC Opening Ceremonies.

“I jumped up and down,” Herr said when he learned of his honor. “I was pretty excited. It’s nice to be rewarded after three years of hard work.”

Herr said he might not have applied if it weren’t for the dogged determination of Kendi Esary, Cascade Campus student leadership coordinator.

“I was threatened by Kendi to apply,” Herr said with a chuckle. “The application process started in December just as everything from fall term was coming to fruition. It was a busy time and I saw this as just one more thing to do. If she hadn’t pushed it, I wouldn’t have applied.”

Herr is majoring in political economy and his preferences of four-year schools include the University of California-Berkeley, Columbia University, Georgetown and Lewis & Clark College.

“If they give me money, I’ll go anywhere,” Herr said. “Have book will travel.”

Herr had wanted to go to law school, but money and an interest in politics turned him in the direction of political economy. He is intrigued by how money and politics work together. Eventually, he’d like to work in the amnesty law field and help find residency for immigrants, who are in the U.S. because of genocide or other catastrophic events in their native country.

This is an impressive education path for a student who didn’t get to college right out of high school. The reason was simple – Herr didn’t have enough money for college and his parents made too much to qualify for financial aid. So the former state high school mock trial champion leaped into an art career and put his college education on hold. After 12 years of working as an illustrator, event promoter, Web designer and 3D animator, he felt it was time to find a more stable career.

At PCC’s Cascade Campus on North Killingsworth Street, he completed the placement test and started his collegiate career. Eventually he would connect to faculty and staff who opened doors. Porter Raper (composition and literature instructor) referred him to the student government office to work as a social programs assistant for student government. From there, Herr became addicted to helping students. He credits Cascade staff like Esary, Linda Reisser (dean of student development), Scott Huff (dean of instruction), and instructors Ann Sitomer (math) and Michael Sonnleitner (political science) as critical mentors in his development as a college student.

“To have the last three New Century scholars come from Cascade; they’ve built wonderful program,” Herr said of Cascade’s leadership. “It speaks volumes for what we are doing here.”

Other New Century Scholar recipients from PCC include Lisa Hummel in 2007 and Shanta Anderson in 2006.