Clackamas Community College President Tim Cook finishes the last stretch of his "Running for Oregon Community College Students" campaign in Hood River, Ore., on Aug. 6, 2025.
Courtesy of Paddy Cook
On an overcast, slightly rainy day on Aug. 6, Tim Cook finished 16 miles of his nearly 1,500-mile journey — running from Cascade Locks to Columbia Gorge Community College in Hood River — with Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” in his ears.
It was the final stretch of a 52-day run to all 17 of Oregon’s community colleges.
The feat was grueling. Starting in Ontario on June 16, Cook — a marathon runner for more than two decades — averaged more than 27 miles a day, winding through small towns and cities across the state.
Yet the challenge left him energized.
“I feel great — I actually felt like I got stronger as I went along,” said Cook, 57, in an interview with OPB’s “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller.
Cook, the president of Clackamas Community College, laced up his running shoes earlier this summer with a mission: to raise awareness and funds for students facing financial struggles that threaten their ability to stay in community college.
According to Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission, 193,318 students attended the state’s 17 community colleges in the 2022–23 school year — more than half of Oregon’s higher education enrollment.
But many of these students face serious hardships. A February national survey by The Hope Center for Student Basic Needs at Temple University found that among 74,000-plus participants — most of them community college students — 41% had experienced food insecurity, 48% housing insecurity and 14% homelessness.
Cook saw these challenges firsthand at Clackamas, where the average student is in their 30s, studies part-time, and juggles work and family responsibilities.
“I was seeing students go hungry, and then I was seeing more and more students that were either camping around campus or living in their cars,” he said. “Many people just sort of thought that was just part of college life or an everyday reality, and I just didn’t see it that way.”
Cook says the idea for his “Running for Oregon Community College Students” project was sparked by Fernando Rojas, a Spanish instructor at Clatsop Community College who, in 2021, biked to every community college in Oregon to raise money for his students.
Rojas later joined Clackamas Community College’s planning committee for Cook’s run, which took a year and a half to organize.
Clatsop Community College faculty member Fernando Rojas, left, runs 5 miles with Tim Cook on his way to Portland Community College on July 30, 2025.
Courtesy of Paddy Cook
Cook’s wife, Paddy — a retired kindergarten teacher and committee member — remembers when he first shared the idea.
“I thought it was such a great idea. I didn’t realize that I had the option to say no,” she said.
Paddy Cook became a key member of the 20-plus-person support team of friends and family. She handled logistics, drove the support van nicknamed “Roxy,” and made sure her husband stayed safe, fed and hydrated.
On the hottest days, Tim would cool off using Roxy’s outdoor shower hookup. “He would just spray himself down head-to-toe with a nice, cool shower and off he went running again,” Paddy Cook said.
At every stop, Tim Cook was welcomed by faculty, staff and students who shared their own stories of hardship and perseverance. He had lighthearted moments too — like running into Tillamook Bay Community College alongside a calf named Tinker Bell — and even made a Fourth of July detour with his family to visit Crater Lake.
The journey also revealed parts of Oregon that were new to him, who grew up in Oregon City.
“I might have driven through, but I know there were towns that I had never even heard of that I was running through,” he said. “You just see different things when you’re on foot than you do in a car.”
Tim Cook runs in Pendleton, Ore., on June 22, 2025 en route to his next destination at Blue Mountain Community College.
Courtesy of Paddy Cook
Although he reached his final stop at Columbia Gorge Community College on Aug. 6, the official celebration came the next morning, when he ran 2.5 miles with the college’s president and staff to the Columbia River.
So far, the run has raised more than $130,000 toward his $150,000 goal, with funds going directly to students across Oregon for urgent needs such as rent assistance and child care.
Tim Cook admits the amount is “barely scratching the surface,” but hopes it sparks more investment in community colleges, which he says play a vital yet sometimes overlooked role in the state.
“At Clackamas we’re thinking about more of an endowment, so that there’s some continuing funds and really fundraising for those types of things while we try to get more state and federal funds,” he said.
The “Running for Oregon Community College Students” project may be over, and Tim Cook says he won’t attempt another like it, but he still plans to run marathons in all 50 states, with 38 already checked off the list.
And if he ever changes his mind about a statewide run, Paddy Cook said she’ll be ready.
“If he does, well, I’ll be right there by his side.”
Paddy Cook celebrates her husband Tim Cook's completion of his "Running for Oregon Community College Students" fundraiser in Hood River, Ore., on Aug. 7, 2025.
Courtesy of Paddy Cook
Listen to Tim Cook’s full interview on OPB’s “Think Out Loud”:
Sheraz Sadiq contributed to this story.
