After earning two years’ worth of college credits at Portland Community College, I transferred to Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon to finish my undergrad degree in Environmental Studies. While at Pacific I became president of Students for Environmental Activism, a campus sustainability organization. I later went on to start a new student group, the Pacific University Cascade Climate Network, focused on involving Pacific students in regional issues related to climate change.
Projects that I worked on at Pacific included organizing student support for the B. Street Farm Permaculture Project; coordinating several campus events, including a Washington County Sustainability Summit; organizing a delegation of students to attend a Power Shift youth organizing conference in Washington, DC; and coordinating a “Bike the Pipe” event that brought students together with Forest Grove-area landowners fighting oppose construction of a gas pipeline through their property.
Nick Engelfried 