Student Stories
Erik Kersenbrock
Former Physics student
Erik Kersenbrock crisscrossed some challenging terrain before landing at COCC. Determined to seek out adventure after high school, the Kansas native backpacked the entire Appalachian Trail, hitchhiked through sprawling sections of the U.S., and immersed himself in wilderness living and primitive skills for a time.
It was those aspects of curiosity and discovery that later coalesced into engineering studies at COCC. "I can't say that I 'chose' the field of engineering," he explains. "I have always been curious about how things worked. I look at a process and wonder how it can be more efficient."
"I have never felt a sense of community like I have found at COCC."
While living out of his tangerine-colored, 1990 Ford Collins school bus, Kersenbrock maintained a 4.0 GPA at COCC, notching a place on the dean's list every term. He went on to be named a member of the 2020 All-Oregon Academic Team, and on the heels of earning an American Association of Community Colleges national scholar prize, he opened his email one day to find this incredible message: "You've been accepted into Stanford University."
"It's a total lifestyle change," says Kersenbrock. But he's put in the mileage. Now nearing completion of his bachelor's degree in materials science and engineering from Stanford, Kersenbrock is conducting an internship with a battery research company that's recycling copper and repurposing the raw material for new battery production.
Looking back, he remembers being impressed with the responsiveness of COCC's staff in phone calls when he was first researching colleges. That early impression has endured. "I have never felt a sense of community like I have found at COCC," he shares.
Christopher Magone
Associate of Science (Physics major) graduate
From narrowly graduating high school to completing an advanced degree in nuclear engineering, the extraordinary educational journey of Christopher Magone — still very much underway as he pursues a doctoral program in physics — is undoubtedly a lesson in perseverance, but also in being open to possibility.
Enrolling at COCC helped Magone solidify his strengths, clarify his goals. In particular, a class in vector calculus inspired him to seek more from his studies.
“It was the first class to really grab my attention and single-handedly got me back on track,” says Magone, recalling how he’d been muddling through his transfer degree at the time. But math and physics had always been a language he related to.
“I was very interested in the more philosophical side of physics. I had read ‘The Universe in a Nutshell,’ as well as other similar scientific communication type books, and knew I wanted to study physics,” he shares. Magone’s physics professor at COCC, he well remembers, “genuinely loved what she did and made learning difficult concepts feel approachable and fun.”
"It was the first class to really grab my attention and single-handedly got me back on track"
With his COCC degree in hand, Magone transferred to Oregon State University and completed undergraduate degrees in math and physics. Along the way, he became a math tutor for his peers, paying forward some of that fun, approachable learning.
After applying to a number of theoretical physics Ph.D. programs but not finding a spot, he leapt at an opportunity to fill a position at OSU that suddenly opened up on a research group in the nuclear engineering master’s degree program.
“I knew that completing a master’s degree before reapplying for a Ph.D. would increase my odds of being accepted, so I said yes. I’ve enjoyed the degree program, the people I have met, and everything I have learned, despite none of it originally being a part of my plan.”
Magone is now applying to doctoral programs in theoretical physics and applied mathematics, realigning with the path he was previously on. He hopes to become a college professor someday soon. “So that I can not only give back to students with a positive experience, but also simultaneously work on new and exciting theories about the universe.”