Chemeketa Voices

Beauty and the (Academic) Beast. The tale of a college newb.

Katelyn Redinger graduated from West Salem High School with honors in 2005, but for all her achievements, she still wasn’t sure about continuing her education.

“When it came to college, my family was complete newbs,” she said.

As the first child her in her immediate family to graduate from high school, everything was unexplored territory. She was accepted for enrollment at Oregon State University and Western Oregon University, but it hadn’t quelled her nerves in the least.

“I had a lot of anxiety problems in my last year of high school because I had really pushed myself in honors classes. I just wasn’t ready to be shipped off and start classes and a new life in college,” she said.

Chemeketa Community College allowed Redinger to remain in her comfort and support zone near home, but challenged her by offering a diverse range of classes that prepared her for the rigors of higher education at the next level. Redinger began to seriously consider Chemeketa as an alternative, despite the misgivings of her mother.

She toured the campus with her boyfriend and liked the vibe she felt there, but it was the course offerings that hooked her.

“I have been a fan of Japanese anime since I was like 8 years old. When I found out they had a Japanese language class that was it. I enrolled in the transfer degree program,” Redinger said. Redinger had a thirst for knowledge, but she still didn’t know where to direct it. She enrolled in the Japanese language courses, but took advantage of many of CCC’s other offerings. “I still had a lingering interest in herpetology, but I was taking courses in everything from anthropology to fine art,” she said.

Her talent for stained glass work was discovered in Chemeketa class rooms and she took a Zen meditation class that helped calm some of her anxiety. She even began art modeling, an opportunity that eventually led to her becoming a model for several school publications. Redinger found her calling in technical theater, more specifically, prop handling. Redinger was an active theater student throughout high school, but Chemeketa was where she discovered her niche.

“Being a prop master requires being extremely organized and having everything in its place,” she said. It seemed to be a perfect match for some of the habits she had developed in her hectic high school career.

In her second year, Redinger became an ambassador for the school. The program includes a grant for tuition and a place to work in the marketing and communications office, where she answers the constantly ringing phones and gives tours to campus visitors. She graduated in June 2007 and is headed to Portland State University this fall. Now, even her once doubtful mother believes she wouldn’t have been able to do it any other way.

“Chemeketa has given me so much,” said Redinger. “I found my calling, I found my niche in art and I learned about how hard I was going to have to work to make it in college.”

Updated September 2007 by Marketing and Student Recruitment.