Taking positive action: Linn-Benton GSA co-president Ceph Poklemba

It’s business as usual at the SLC office; the laughter and banter of students tumbles through the room. Ceph Poklemba, focusing his attention on a drawing, glances up once in a while with piqued interest, interjecting in the conversation.

A bright green mop of curling hair falls across his brow. Bending over a colored-pencil drawing, he darkens the curved leg of a strong-looking woman. Her skirt is a rainbow of colors, surrounding her in a whorl of motion that drifts upwards to the edges of the page. Poklemba peers up from beneath black rimmed glasses with a discerning gaze, his quick wit at the ready.

“Go hard or go home,” he says.

A second-year LBCC student majoring in fine arts and communications, Poklemba could be described as over-involved.

“I’m involved in about 10 clubs on campus,” he said.

To top it off, Poklemba holds the position of communications director for the Student Leadership  and shares the presidency of the Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA).

Highly active in the community as co-president, Poklemba focuses on outside resourcing, working with the high school GSA in Corvallis. He advises them monthly and maintains a presence in local youth groups.

“It’s really important to provide safe spaces for minorities on campus, regardless of what happens,” said Poklemba. “We provide safe places for gender, sexual and romantic minorities.”

As a youth Poklemba came out to his mother and friends at the age of 15, but says it is a never-ending process.

“No matter where you are or what point in your life you are at, you’re always going to be coming out,” he said.

Poklemba experienced a lack of support, education and resources during his youth, leaving him with the desire to improve the lives of high school students. Aspiring to teach art and communications, he also dreams of teaching a “real” sexual education class to seniors.

Poklemba didn’t always fit in with his family. His mother and sister were both successful athletes, yet Poklemba had little interest in athletics. He found his solace in artwork; in drawing in particular. To the chagrin of his father, Poklemba continued to pursue his love of art through high school and into college.

At the age of seven he endured the separation of his parents. Over the course of his childhood he lived in 14 different houses in Corvallis, one for only a month.

“We called it the ‘quick house,’” he said.

Poklemba experienced very little support from his family regarding what was most important to him: his art. Tensions rose with his father, and a breaking point came after he had turned 17. His father kicked him out of the house.

It was a blessing in disguise.

“I had gotten out of a really toxic family situation and I was able to be a lot more open about myself,” said Poklemba.

Poklemba now resides with his mother, and is happy about the stable situation.

“She is much more supportive of who I am than my father,” he said.

Conflict with his father wasn’t his only obstacle. While 17, Poklemba wrestled with deep depression, eventually attempting suicide. 

Suicide attempts are not uncommon for LGBTQ youth. Data from numerous studies compiled by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center shows that 30 to 40 percent of LGBTQ youth attempt suicide at some point in their lives.

Studies also show active GSA's make a difference in the lives of LGBTQ youth such as Poklemba. A study published in March 2013 in the School Social Work Journal found a decrease in suicide rates is associated with the presence of a GSA on campus. Campuses with no GSA had a 33.1 percent suicide rate compared to a 16.9 percent rate on campuses with an active GSA.

Poklemba expresses gratitude for his life and was quick to move on, enrolling at LBCC and fervently pursuing his career as a college student and club member.

“I pretty much just took twenty steps at once instead of one and got really involved really fast,” said Poklemba.

Though he continues a battle with depression, Poklemba stays busy with on-campus pursuits. But when life becomes a little too hectic he takes as step back and focuses on self-care and art.

“I like using art for political purposes,” said Poklemba. “I like using it in a way that is capable of making someone who can’t read understand it. That’s why I like art.”

At the SLC office Poklemba contributes this creativity to graphic design and communications duties. Experienced doing advertising graphics for a news publication in Salem, Ore., the SLC quickly snatched up his skills.

“He’s a likeable person and he has a great sense of humor, but he’s no nonsense and that’s why I think he does well in his position,’ said Barb Horn, SLC advisor.

SLC Volunteer Coordinator Nikki Aman shares a desk with Poklemba. She finds their high-energy, motivated working styles are a perfect match. Describing him as always having an ear to listen, he is the first to notice or offer help when something is wrong.

“He immediately turned my bad day into a solvable problem and that was really valuable,” said Aman.

Ceph Poklemba poses with his drawing.

At A Glance:

• Ceph Poklemba is the co-president of LBCC's Gender-Sexuality Alliance, believing in the importance maintaining safe spaces for students on the college's campus.

• Poklemba is the communications director for the Student Leadership Council.

• He is majoring in art and communications, with the long term goal of becoming a youth educator, teaching in a high school.

• He hopes to introduce an improved sex education class to high school.

• For now, Poklemba focuses on improving the campus community through his work with the GSA, SLC and multiple other clubs on campus.