Chris Woods The Advocate Avel Gordly, 1947–2026 Avel Louise Gordly, born Feb. 13, 1947, was an activist, organizer and politician in Oregon, and the first Black woman elected to the Oregon State Senate. She served from 1997 to 2009. She grew up on Williams Street in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Northeast Portland and later became one of only 20 Black students at Girls Polytechnic High School (later Washington-Monroe High School). The school tried to st

Chris Woods The Advocate Jesse Jackson, civil rights activist, politician and Baptist minister, died Feb. 17, 2026. Born Jesse Louis Burns on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, to single mother Helen Burns, he later had good relationships with both his biological father, Noah Louis Robinson, and his stepfather, Charles Henry Jackson. A high school honor student and class president at racially segregated Sterling High School, he attended the University of Illinois i

Photo by Aung Pyae Lin Jamie Teigen , a MHCC ceramics student, poses with some of her work. If you have a photo you would like to submit for our slice of life section, email us at advocate@mhcc.edu

The 24-25 MHCC softball team in the NWAC championship where they came up just short. The Saints have appeared in the past two championships Columbia Basin College Location: Pasco, WA Mar. 1st | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Centralia College Location: Gresham, OR Mar. 14th | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Umpqua Basin College Location: Gresham, OR Mar. 20th | 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM Southwestern Oregon Community College Location: Gresham, OR Mar. 21st | 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Grays Harbor College Locatio

Civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Jesse Jackson Chiderah Edeh The Advocate Walking through Mt. Hood Community College during Black History Month feels different. In the Student Union, posters of influential Black leaders sit on tables. In the library, quotes line the walls. Faces look back at you — activists, educators, organizers, artists, people who sacrificed, who led movements, who poured into their communities so others could live safer and fu

ChrisWoods The Advocate MHCC hosted a screening of the documentary “Priced Out” in the Student Union, Feb. 18, 2026. Cornelius Swart’s 2017 documentary explores the history of housing and the African American presence in the Portland area. A sequel to 2001’s NorthEast Passage: The Inner City and the American Dream, Priced Out follows up with Nikki Williams, the subject Swart has filmed since the late 1990s, as she searches for solutions to the dangers and lack of opportunity

Photo By Elijah Camacho Timothy Grassley The Advocate Imagine the thunder of applause echoing through a packed theater, the stage bathed in golden light and the pulse of live piano filling the air. That’s exactly what greeted me at Mt. Hood Community College’s new production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”—a performance so bold and ambitious I left the theater breathless. A twist of fate landed me face-to-face with Mt. Hood Community College theater director Zach Hartley on W

Jennifer Childers The Advocate Students may have noticed individuals affiliated with Turning Point USA gathering in the Main Mall courtyard in recent days, speaking with students and collecting information. Turning Point USA is a national nonprofit student organization founded by Charlie Kirk in 2012. The group describes its mission as identifying, educating and organizing students to promote conservative principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty.

In the age of clickbait and advertorials, community service still matters more than numbers and sales Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Writing—especially in the age of constant content—can begin to feel like output for the sake of output. Articles are produced, posted, shared, scrolled past, replaced. The speed creates an illusion of importance. Movement becomes mistaken for meaning. But journalism was never meant to be performance. We don’t write to write. We write to inform

Chris Woods The Advocate The origin of the original pride flag in 1978 was a request from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk asked designer Gilbert Baker to create a flag, and Baker took inspiration from the 1913 World Peace Flag designed by Methodist minister James William van Kirk. The original version of the pride flag had eight stripes: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, t

Timothy Grassley The Advocate MHCC’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is taking Shakespeare to new heights—literally—as actors lift the classic comedy off the stage with use of aerial choreography. The Advocate had the opportunity to speak with MHCC’s aerial director and choreographer, Andee Fischer, who shared insight into the process behind both dance and aerial work for the actors participating in the upcoming production. What makes this play stand out is how A Mi

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate Community is a word used often but rarely examined. It appears in mission statements, donor appeals and analytics reports, usually as a vague abstraction—an audience to reach, a group to engage or a set of numbers to grow. But community is not a metric. It’s a relationship built on trust, care and continuity. A community isn’t simply a group of people living near one another. It’s a network of shared concerns, histories and responsibilities, bu

Jennifer Childers The Advocate It has become increasingly clear that the world we live in is not what many of us once believed. The idea of stable, righteous, benevolent systems quietly working to keep people safe has proven to be a carefully constructed fiction — an illusion collapsing under the weight of lived experience. The programs and institutions we were conditioned to trust are not only failing; in many cases, they are actively causing harm. We’ve been taught that if

Chiderah Edeh The Advocate This year, the Grammys became more than an awards show. Immigration, equality and human rights were central themes of the night. Pins, speeches and statements worked together to ensure artists’ voices were heard. The event reminded viewers that music and activism are often connected, and that small gestures can spark conversation and inspire change. It started on the red carpet: artists wearing “ICE OUT” pins — small symbols carrying a powerful mes

Malikaih Mulloy The Advocate With recent activity in our communities involving ICE, many students, staff and faculty members may be increasingly concerned about the potential presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on campus. While MHCC Public Safety has indicated that there has not been ICE activity on campus to date, the college recognizes these concerns and has provided information on what to do if ICE were to come to MHCC. Illustration by Leo Decklar (

Adam Elwell The Advocate In December 2025, three Gresham residents were detained after being lured out of their home by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Federal agents cannot enter a home without a warrant; however, this has not deterred ICE or Border Patrol from using deceptive practices to contact residents. Tactics have included fake license plates, Mexican flag bumper stickers and, most recently, posing as utility workers. Despite multiple reports from resident

Malikaih Mulloy The Advocate Reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the Gresham area have drawn increased attention and concern within the Mt. Hood Community College community. Several MHCC students say the presence of ICE, along with uncertainty surrounding its operations, has created a growing sense of fear and distress, even for those who have not directly encountered agents. In interviews conducted by The Advocate, students described a heightened sens

Chris Woods The Advocate The Advocate recently stopped in to talk with Rachel Dillard, coordinator of Barney’s Pantry at Mt. Hood Community College. Barney’s Pantry provides emergency food and other essentials to students in need. The pantry is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, one of the longest weekly schedules of any area food bank. A student ID is required, and students are limited to one visit per week, with item limits clearly marked on the shelves. About 500

Adam Elwell The Advocate Mt. Hood Community College may be between a rock and a $5 million hard place. In an email to MHCC faculty on Feb. 6, President Lisa Skari wrote that “even with careful planning, the college is still facing an estimated gap of nearly $5 million that must be addressed in the coming fiscal year’s budget.” Earlier this week, Oregon released its economic forecast, revealing a $15 billion budget shortfall driven in part by federal cuts to Medicaid and SNA

Morgan McCarraher The Advocate MHCC is unlike most community colleges in the state of Oregon in its geographic reach and unique and specialized programs. However, like the other state community colleges, it is locally governed by an elected board. State laws and policies, along with the Higher Education Coordinating Commission — as defined in ORS 341.015 — guide how Oregon’s community college districts are determined. Because of this, MHCC’s district includes eight high schoo