Updated Tuesday, May 19:

At approximately 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 13, power across campus went out. Students sat in the dark for roughly an hour before Portland General Electric workers on scene were able to return light to campus. According to Steve Corson, who works for PGE’s media relations department, the brown-out was a result of an ineffective fuse. The fuse blew, leaving the campus without power.

Clackamas Community College released a statement via Facebook saying it was an “electrical brown-out” and the power had to be shut off so PGE could reset their breakers and restore power.

However, in the meantime, students and faculty had to find their way in the dark.

“It just was a little frightening going to the restroom and not knowing what’s in there,” Alex Ticknor, CCC student, said. “Thankfully I always carry a flashlight with me.”

Some classes were more affected than others. For Mirina Derrington, CCC student, her music class struggled to make it through the day’s class.

“We all had to huddle to play the piano … it was weird because one person was playing high, another low,” Derrington said.

Manufacturing technology instructor Mike Mattson was affected as he was unable to prepare for his manufacturing science class, which involved hours of electrical prep work.

“It really robbed the students,” Mattson said. “It probably wasted two hours of their time.”

Another class to be affected was the dance class, whose students struggled as the AC was turned off: “It was torture.” Karen Kistler, CCC student, said. The dance class also had to dance for the majority of the class counting their own beats without music to guide them.

However, for other classes, the lack of power didn’t matter at all.

“There was no lights any way so it didn’t come into play,” Jarrod Dunham, CCC student, said. “We didn’t even realize the power was out.”

Although having no electricity for more than an hour was unfortunate for teachers and students, the good news was that there was little damage to the wiring and surrounding area.

“In this case they put the fuse back in, and you’re back in business,” Corson said.

And with that, life on campus was back to normal.

How did you, your peers and teachers react to the power outage? Tweet
@theclackamasprint with your story, we would love to hear it!

Story by: Cassidy Scott