My higher education odyssey began around 2016 when my son was getting married in Mexico to una Chicana, which identifies a Mexican girl born in the U.S. The wedding was in Mexico so I had the idea to make a toast in Spanish at the reception and although obviously a Gringo in front of about 100 native Spanish speakers it was fun and well received. Oh by the way I happen to be 76 years old. Spanish classes were just the beginning because I realized that I enjoyed it and continued on. Auditing a class was always an option but I decided that in order to get the most out of it I should go all in, do the work, and receive the credit. When I first entered USM I told myself that it was for fun, it still is, and grades didn\u2019t matter but that changed fast. I wanted to be one of those students who did well plus I found myself relating more to the dean\u2019s list students. Maybe it\u2019s the focus, maturity, or work ethic which I had but what surprised me is the \u2018A\u2019 students also demonstrated those qualities.<\/p>\n
A few years later an assignment for an English classed required two students to work on a project together and one option was to make a podcast and present it to the class. My partner and I immediately decided that a podcast would be the most fun. One reason we decided on a podcast was because Jessica Lockhart, program director at WMPG, visited our class the week before, explained what the radio station had to offer students, and encouraged us by promising assistance. That podcast turned out good and was fun. A couple of years later, another English class had as an assignment a podcast as an option and I was already an experienced broadcaster (lol) so I went for it. This time I interviewed a classmate as part of the project so I had to write questions and edit the program which took much more time than I thought.<\/p>\n
While I was working on the podcasts Jessica suggested that I become a DJ so I started practicing in the production room. My biggest problem is my lack of technological skills. One time I got started and spent probably 45 minutes not able to do anything so I asked Craig for help. He stepped in, pressed the \u2018on\u2019 button, and saved the day.<\/p>\n
As part of my major I had to perform a semester long internship and I asked Jessica if I could work at WMPG and she agreed. Immediately she threw me in over my head with an assignment to produce a weekly podcast. Everybody: Jim, Annella, and others were there if I needed help and I did, a lot, but it was on me to write, produce, and broadcast the show called \u201cBeyond the Hook.\u201d Internships can be taken twice for credit so after completing my fall semester stint I asked Jessica if I could continue to work at the station. Although she agreed, one stipulation from the English Department is that a second semester cannot be a repeat of the first so we decided that I should write, host, and locate guests for an interview on air talk show which I am still doing. The show is called Passionate People and I talk with people who are passionate about what they do. My guests have included a roller derby player, an activist, and the president of the university among others, who love to talk about their passion.<\/p>\n
This past May I graduated cum laude with a BA in English and a minor in Spanish but I plan to keep taking classes and working at WMPG. I have considered graduate school but it\u2019s not free; The entire Maine system offers free undergraduate classes to any resident over 65, which is one reason why I am here, and I would probably have to go to Orono.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My higher education odyssey began around 2016 when my son was getting married in Mexico to una Chicana, which identifies a Mexican girl born in the U.S. The wedding was in Mexico so I had the idea to make a toast in Spanish at the reception and although obviously a Gringo in front of about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"wmpg50","author_link":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/author\/wmpg50\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/50.wmpg.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}