Chemeketa Voices
Bear necessities:
Chuck Sekafetz
Chuck Sekafetz had a bear in a headlock when he decided it was time for a career change.
Sekafetz was working as a groundskeeper/caretaker at a game reserve outside of Amity. It was the second time the 200-pound Ursa Major had reared up on him. The first time, the bear bit down on Sekafetz’s glove and he was able to get away.
Sekafetz was told changes would be made, but they weren’t and it got him thinking about what other opportunities might be waiting. This time the bear was face-to face with Sekafetz and his defensive instincts kicked into overdrive. He put the bear in a headlock.
“I was mad at everything. I am in this cage with this bear in a headlock, and all I knew was that it probably made the bear even more furious,” said Sekafetz.
With the bear contained but still trying to bite him and no help coming from outside the cage, Sekafetz’s blood began to boil and he did the first thing that came to mind:
He bit the bear.
“I grabbed hold of the scruff of his neck and bit down just as hard as I could. I don’t think I got anything but fur,” said Sekafetz.
The adrenalin rush subsided. Sekafetz and the bear retreated to separate corners of the bear’s enclosure. His jaw tenses up and his hands shake when he retells the story, but he’ll never forget the look on the bear’s face when it was all over.
“The bear looked at me with these eyes like, ‘Cool. Now you know what I want to do, I want to play,’” said Sekafetz. “At that point I knew, I knew, I knew, I knew, I was in the wrong business.”
He quit his job the next day. Two weeks later he was taking classes at Chemeketa Community College.
Total immersion
Sekafetz had already been considering going back to school when the bear-wrestling incident occurred. His employer at the game reserve had encouraged him to do so from the first day they met, he even offered to pay for it. But school was something Sekafetz wanted to do on his own.
“I had tried college at Chemeketa right after I got out of high school, but I wasn’t mature enough. I had some growing up to do and, luckily, I did,” said Sekafetz.
When it came time to decide what he would study, the choice was something of a natural one. Sekafetz had been running an online bulletin board system, one of many predecessors to the modern-day Internet. When he sat down with Chemeketa counselor Bob Hunter it quickly became apparent that they knew each other through conversations they’d had online. Hunter, at that time, was administrator of Chemeketa’s bulletin board system.
“Bob walked me up to the office of the networking and electronics program chair and told him, ‘You want this guy to be in your program, he is going to be in your program, just get him in,’” said Sekafetz.
The program chair, Gary Boyington, walked Sekafetz to a classroom and plopped him in a chair while the teacher continued her lecture. Sekafetz would start his day on campus as early as 7:30 a.m. and would stay as late as 2 a.m. to work on class projects.
“It was sort of a magical experience because we never had the stuff we needed to keep up with the changing technology. So we built it,” said Sekafetz.
By the end of his first year in the program, he had a job offer from Intel.
Intel Operations
Sekafetz’s time at Intel was spent doing many interesting and demanding jobs; suffice it to say that he moved up quickly and his work involved tasks described by the following terms:
FAB Technician.
High Vacuum.
Gold Evaporation.
He reached the level of senior tech within a year. On his days off he took the opportunities to teach at Intel, hoping one day to teach in the networking and electronics program at Chemeketa.
“I took the opportunity to teach everything. If they needed an instructor for something I would put my hand up,” said Sekafetz. He was especially drawn to safety classes, for somewhat self-centered reasons.
“Whenever we graduate a student from the networking and electronics program, I want to be able to say, ‘I’ll work alongside you. I believe you have gotten enough knowledge and safety behind you that I am willing to work with you underneath almost any circumstances,’” said Sekafetz.
After six years, his dedication to his students earned him “the call.”
The Call
The call came from Marybelle Beigh, the same instructor whose class Sekafetz had been thrown into his first day as a student in the program. Sekafetz enjoyed his position at Intel, but a full-time teaching position had opened up with the retirement of a Chemeketa instructor. She called specifically to tell Sekafetz that he needed to apply for the job.
Words catch in his throat when he recalls the feeling he got when talking to her about the opportunity.
“She knew that I could do the same good that she has done as a teacher and that she was willing to work alongside me. That type of gratification coming from your former instructor was and still is just too much for me to handle,” said Sekafetz.
He got the job.
Full Circle
At a recent celebration highlighting the success of Chemeketa’s networking and electronics students, four out of seven student presenters mentioned Sekafetz by name and credited him with their perseverance through the program. To complete their degrees, those students practiced their skills with dummy projects he and classmates developed during their time as students.
One of Sekafetz’s many talents is in reminding his students that they are training to work in a creative field.
“The work itself can seem tedious, but it’s finding new ways to apply it that can change the world. We’re creative people, a bioengineer designed the modern-day defibrillator,” said Sekafetz.
Give him three minutes and a whiteboard and he’ll show you how to stabilize the world’s food supply with a degree in networking and electronics. It involves putting GPS devices on tractors.
In a little less than 18 years, Sekafetz has gone from bear wrestler to program chair of networking and electronics at Chemeketa. It’s been an unexpected ride, but one that he no longer questions.
“I just know that I have a path that needs to be followed and I follow it. I don’t ask questions, I just do,” he said.
By Eric A. Howald. Have a great Chemeketa story? Send us an e-mail.
Updated March 5, 2008 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.