Abby Pierson looks for her next address as she canvasses for the BMCC bond on Saturday in Hermiston.

Abigail Pierson checked her clipboard, took a calming breath and started up the driveway to the front door of a Hermiston home. She knocked and waited.

The 19-year-old Blue Mountain Community College student hit the streets Saturday morning, armed with an address list and information about her school’s $23 million bond measure. Pierson wasn’t involved in the 2013 campaign that ended in 57 percent of voters rejecting another version of the bond. This time around, Pierson decided, she would do what she could. She and other students got busy canvassing and working the phone banks.

On Saturday, Pierson smiled brightly as the front door swung open. Retired teacher Nancy Carlson stood at the threshold, her eyes taking in Pierson’s blue BMCC T-shirt and the clipboard. The retired teacher waved away any hard sell that might be forthcoming.

“I already sent in my ballot,” Carlson said. “I voted yes. I’m a teacher — I think education is important.”

Pierson described the response as typical.

“Feedback has been good,” she said. “People have been really positive.”

Carlson, like the rest of the names on Pierson’s clipboard, is someone who votes in most every election.

Pierson and other BMCC student leaders also spent time on campus helping their classmates register to vote.

“We were surprised at how many students weren’t registered or were registered at their parents’ addresses,” she said.

The recently married student won’t reap any direct benefits from her hours of pavement pounding if the bond passes. She graduates from BMCC this year with a transfer degree and will study education in Hermiston via Eastern Oregon University’s online program.

The Hermiston native said a healthy BMCC will attract local high school graduates like her.

“I wanted to stay home, to go to school, but stay in my community,” Pierson said. “That, for me, was a big factor. “

To do that, she said, the college must offer relevant programs and maintain its infrastructure. Pierson has experienced the school’s vintage air conditioning and heating system. When the climate is too warm or too cool, she said, “I know firsthand how difficult it is to focus in the classroom.”

Additionally, she said, bond passage would indirectly help keep tuition down. Pierson works 30 hours a week at Banner Bank and 15 hours as a student ambassador at BMCC. Still, money is tight.

“An extra couple hundred dollars a term for tuition could prevent a student from going to school,” said Pierson, who said she is the first member of her family to attend college.

Camden VanOcker, who serves with Pierson in Associated Student Government, has helped support the effort by taking part in bond presentations. Along with other students, he shares his personal academic journey and puts a human face on the bond. VanOcker, who plans to eventually earn an agriculture education degree, loves the idea of the precision agriculture program that would be kick-started with bond funds.

“Elite programs such as precision agriculture will draw more people to BMCC,” VanOcker said. “It’s the next big thing in agriculture.”

Students aren’t the only ones jumping headlong into the effort. After the last bond failed, board members and administrators recovered from the shock and got busy. The college started with a series of listening sessions around Morrow and Umatilla counties to find out what happened. They used the information to design a trimmer, less Pendleton-centric bond.

Yard signs, about 500 of them, now dot the two counties. BMCC President Camille Preus and Vice-President of Public Relations Casey White-Zollman have made daily appearances to answer questions about the measure.

“They have done about 100 presentations between the two of them, sometimes four in one day,” said Board of Education Chairman Ed Taber.

Last time around, Taber said, supporters had a false sense of security. He, like many others, is putting more skin in the game this go-round by knocking on doors and working the phone. The feedback encourages him.

“People are seeing that it’s a great deal for them,” he said.

Taber took pains not to be overconfident, though he thinks voters will come through.

“If it doesn’t pass, it’s not for lack of information out there,” he said.

Pierson, too, feels good about the bond’s chances, but she won’t slack off until May 19.

“We need to tell people what it’s for,” she said. “We’re asking for their tax dollars, but it’s for a really good reason.”

Details of the BMCC bond measure are available at www.bluecc.edu.

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Contact Kathy Aney at kaney@eastoregonian.com or call 541-966-0810.