McMinnville? (Portland: jobs, home, universities)

[kitteebug]

I'm doing what it seems most of the people here are looking to do: move to Oregon Someone on here mentioned McMinnville as a good place to fit me and my lifestyle. I currently teach high school, but would like to get into teaching at the community college level while I get my masters. I'm in my late 20's, looking for good places to eat, drink and be merry, enjoy being part of a community and want to find a place for my dog, cat and I to call home. I grew up in Cleveland and don't really enjoy big cities, but I would like to be less than my current 3 hour distance to a city. For the past 10 years, I have lived in towns of 20-30,000 people and it seems to fit me pretty well. I'm just wondering what you all think of McMinnville. What pro's/con's are there?

[lifes2short]

McMinnville is a great town, IMO. Linfield College is there, but it is not a community college by any means. Look into Portland Community College if that is what you want. They have several locations throughout the area. While I don't live in Mac, I am down there several times a week so know it pretty well. There are a lot of positives, but the only negative, IMO, is the drive on hwy99w. It gets very congested, but not enough to deter me.

[jm21]

Chemeketa Community College holds night classes at the McMinnville high school I believe (or they used to?). Not sure how to go about teaching with them. I think many teaching jobs are hard to find, so you may have to move to the jobs.

If you want to teach at a community college and get your masters at the same time, you'll probably have to commute a ways to either classes or your job. The competition for teaching jobs, especially community college ones, is probably pretty fierce around the universities.

That being said, my mom did substitute teaching in McMinnville and the surrounding area, and took night classes at western oregon state, and it seemed to work out well.

Not sure if there'd be much going on as far as a social life for someone your age in Mac though.

Have you checked the teaching requisites in OR? I think we're pretty stringent on the academic requirements for teaching high school...I know it used to be that licensed teachers from WA would have to take some classes in order to teach in OR.

[powerconverters]

i too will be a high school teacher (art) and have always planned on teaching college eventually. while i get my master's. i can't say for sure, though.

i plan on getting national board certified before moving to oregon. anyone have any insight as to whether this will do anything for my chances?

[Larry Caldwell]

You should check the Oregon Department of Education web site for teacher certification information. I think they will let you sub before you get your Oregon cert, but that is about it.