A Launchpad for Global Discovery
Dec. 9, 2025
Educational paths at COCC ignite far-and-wide journeys; start your own experience this winter term, with classes beginning Jan. 5
In the hilly heartland of Romania, where Transylvania’s spired castles and ancient villages famously served as the backdrop for Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” medieval history feels very close at hand. For Mackenzie “Kenzie” Cummings, some of that history ended up quite literally in her hands.
Having studied anthropology at Central Oregon Community College, where she discovered an inspiring education — “it brought the material to life and made concepts click in a way that lectures alone never could” — Cummings’ interests took her to Portland State University for a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, along with participation in an ongoing research project to excavate several medieval church cemeteries. With trowels and small dustpans, the team would slowly reveal remains from shallow-dug grids.
“It was focused on how major political and religious shifts, particularly the transition from Catholicism to Protestantism, influenced local burial practices and community health in medieval Transylvania,” Cummings says of the project. Within that study, Cummings layered in her own independent research: analyzing skeletal asymmetry and biomechanical compensation as indicators of trauma and long-term care. She plans to present her findings at the 2026 American Association of Biological Anthropologists meeting, and is now considering graduate programs.
Cummings traces her anthropology spark back to COCC. “Nothing compares to the quality of teaching and support I experienced at COCC…with amazing resources that make the learning experience hands-on and engaging,” she says. “That department sets the bar."
Learning at COCC can be a launchpad for global discovery. That includes a recent engineering grad who now works with an international nongovernmental organization. And a former French student who taught school in the suburbs of Paris. For Rachel Wallace, studying Mandarin Chinese at COCC while still a student at Bend's Summit High School was mostly about seeking a bold new challenge. Soon, her love for the language program earned her a prestigious scholarship from the U.S. Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth.
Centered on fostering diplomacy and preparing young American students for the globalized workforce, the experience took her to Taiwan for a year of scholarship-sponsored tuition at Tamkang University. Wallace then progressed to studies with the University of Oregon’s Chinese Flagship Program, where she’s earning a bachelor’s degree in global studies and Mandarin Chinese. “My interests are in international education and international relations, with a focus on Eastern Asia.”
While some of COCC’s learning explorations stem from Central Oregon, others take place abroad. “The Indonesian Field Program completely changed the trajectory of my life,” shares recent COCC graduate Dillan Marcus Widener, who journeyed to the coast of Java as a member of the one-month research field school.
Held each summer in collaboration with the Primate Research Center of Bogor Agricultural University, the long-running program (started at the University of Washington in 1991, managed by COCC since 2023) provides field-based science experience for individuals interested in conservation psychology and animal behavior. Students stay in tents, explore a nature preserve and learn how to conduct studies, with species like crab-eating macaques, ebony leaf monkeys and red deer serving as the focus.
“Before traveling to Indonesia, I was planning on dropping out,” shares Widener, who had struggled with his college and career goals. “But once I came back, I was definitely not the same person I was when I left. Safe to say, it’s the reason I’ve decided to continue my studies.” Widener, whose focus is on chemistry and the environment, transferred to the honors college at Oregon State University this fall where he’s earning a bachelor’s in environmental sciences and eyeing future learning explorations at OSU such as resource management in Palau and forest conservation in Borneo.
When Lennox Lewis-Picard, a former wildland firefighter from Warm Springs, saw a flyer on campus advertising the COCC Barcelona Study Abroad program, his academic path of pursuing a GIS or computer information systems degree quickly expanded to include a cultural adventure in Spain.
“I love it here in Barcelona,” says Lewis-Picard, one of 15 students currently participating in the fall term program. “Studying abroad has given me the freedom to take core courses with COCC faculty while immersing myself in the daily rhythms of a new culture.”
Held through a partnership with an outside agency, and requiring the prior completion of 12 COCC credits and a recommended one year of high school Spanish, the program is taught by a COCC instructor in English. The academic focus this year is geography and geospatial science. Staying in shared apartments, students engage in cultural activities and daytrips when not in class — from touring a 9th century monastery to Rumba dancing to learning to cook a traditional multi-course Catalan feast.
“With this being the first opportunity to travel out of country, I aspire to travel more before settling roots back home in Warm Springs,” adds Lewis-Picard. “This experience has deepened my appreciation for cultural diversity and I hope to continue exploring the world with an open mind and a heart rooted in service.”
To start your own journey, visit cocc.edu or call 541-383-7500. COCC’s winter term begins Jan. 5, with an application deadline of Dec. 26.
Image: the 2025 COCC Barcelona Study Abroad program.
