{"id":1655,"date":"2020-09-10T18:21:20","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T18:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/?p=1655"},"modified":"2024-07-24T23:57:58","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T23:57:58","slug":"donor-spotlight-james-gorham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/2020\/09\/10\/donor-spotlight-james-gorham\/","title":{"rendered":"Donor Spotlight: James Gorham"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Part of something bigger<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A new business in his old hometown inspired James Gorham, \u201995, to get involved in the EOU Foundation. Now, more than 10 years later, the business is thriving and Gorham is a member of the EOU Foundation Board of Directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, he earned his master\u2019s in physical therapy and opened his own clinic in Sherwood, Oregon. When he moved back to La Grande in 2007 to be near family, Gorham quickly got involved in the community that raised him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I needed to give back to the place that had made me who I am,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a difficult time at the university and I wanted to be a part of helping turn things around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one of the owners of Mountain Valley Therapy, Gorham has played a role in strengthening the relationship between local businesses and EOU. He volunteers on the EOU Foundation Scholarship Review Committee, reading hundreds of essays and applications each February. Gorham said he received a Foundation scholarship as a student, when he said tuition cost about $300 a term. Now that his son is an EOU student, that number is closer to $2,500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe need for scholarships has risen dramatically,\u201d Gorham said. \u201cThere\u2019s a direct correlation between scholarships available and the number of students who can attend college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gorham and his wife Tracey support the Health and Human Performance program, since he studied exercise science and works in the industry. Regardless of their major, though, Gorham said he\u2019s eager to show every student how they can be successful at EOU. They give to the Building Champions campaign, in addition to scholarships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about giving back and knowing that what you\u2019re giving goes directly to students who may not otherwise be able to go to college,\u201d Gorham said. \u201cLife gets busy and we don\u2019t stop to think about it, but if it hadn\u2019t been for Eastern I wouldn\u2019t have what I do today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gorham said his family has lived in the Grande Ronde Valley since the 1870s, and those deep roots keep him committed to improving access and opportunity for students in the region. Alongside his fellow Foundation Trustees, Gorham said he\u2019s inspired by the sense of working toward a common goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really enjoy the teamwork and bringing people together from so many different walks of life for the goal of making EOU better,\u201d he said. \u201cGiving of time, giving of ideas \u2014 that\u2019s altruism, being part of something bigger to make something better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part of something bigger A new business in his old hometown inspired James Gorham, \u201995, to get involved in the EOU Foundation. Now, more than 10 years later, the business is thriving and Gorham is a member of the EOU Foundation Board of Directors. After graduation, he earned his master\u2019s in physical therapy and opened […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":491,"featured_media":1674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundation-profiles","category-magazine-profiles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/491"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2412,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions\/2412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eou.edu\/foundation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}