An island unto Orange Coast’s own

Christine Carrillo

Many people dream of one day owning an island of their very own.

An island where they can seek refuge from the hectic world they find

themselves in every day. Rarely, does anyone ever find themselves the

recipients of such a gift. But last month, the college did.

Orange Coast College received Rabbit Island, a 36-acre British

Columbia island worth about $750,000, school officials announced

Tuesday.

The donation, which came from Southern California yachtsman Henry

Wheeler, was the second of two major gifts the college received in

January. The first, a vessel valued at more than $2 million, was

donated to OCC’s School of Sailing and Seamanship directly.

“It’s something I think the college is well suited to handle and

develop for our students,” said Brad Avery, director of the School of

Sailing and Seamanship. “Islands have a way of certainly striking the

imagination and it’s certainly done it with us.”

Wheeler donated his island, which won’t serve as much a refuge as

it will a remote classroom, to the OCC Foundation for the benefit of

the sailing school, said Doug Bennett, executive director of the

foundation.

“It’s a beautiful little island,” said Dennis Kelly, associate

professor of marine science. “Some of the things that I’ve considered

doing, as far as teaching up there, would be to teach a class about

island ecology, which is a class I already teach here at OCC, but it

seems very appropriate to teach an island ecology class on an

island.”

But unlike the first gift, the college anticipates that both

marine science and sailing students will benefit from the donated

island, which is about 50 miles north of Vancouver.

“It was really exciting when it came down to the end,” Bennett

said. “What we sort of visualize is to do some programs in the summer

2004 [semester] that would sort of be like a study abroad program,”

Bennett said.

While the college, in an effort to meet its required budget cuts,

has begun looking into suspending its study abroad programs for the

2003-04 school year, officials don’t see the school’s cutbacks coming

into play here. In fact, the college is also looking into partnering

with schools in Canada to help fund the new programs and the island’s

maintenance.

Since the maintenance cost of the island, which officials suspect

will fall between $30,000 to $50,000 per year, will be covered by the

School of Sailing and Seamanship in addition to the majority of

courses created with the island in mind, OCC’s budget crisis won’t

play much of a role.

The most significant role will be the one the island will play in

the college’s marine science and sailing programs.

“I think for the marine science students, it gives them a chance

to do something really special that maybe you can only do at a

four-year university,” Bennett said. “I think for the [School of

Sailing and Seamanship], it gives them a chance to broaden their

program. It just shows that we’re at the edge of sailing and marine

science education.”

* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].