Greetings! I am more than excited about this blogging opportunity. Let me introduce myself-- I am Nicole MacMillan and I currently serve as the Rochester Regional Center Coordinator for GSC, so the seacoast branch of the college is near and dear to my heart. My background in higher ed spans over the past 15 years in a variety of roles educating and counseling students about their academic and career decision-making.
I have now been given the wonderful opportunity to lead a great team of people that make up the staff of Rochester Region GSC-- a great place for Adult and Continuing Education to earn yourself an affordable, quality Bachelors Degree.
I pursued my college and graduate schooling in the field of education and it has always been my professional dream to be doing what I am now-- helping the hard-working people of NH (and beyond) reach their academic goals and become college educated. The more citizens of this great state that can become good critical thinkers and have the opportunity to become educated, the better place this state will be for my children as they grow.
I came to GSC (formerly the College for Lifelong Learning) on a part-time basis primarily because it was a night college and my priorities are my young sons Griffin and Graeme, who were babies when I started at the college. Working at a night college allowed me the opportunity to spend valuable time with them at a key stage in their own development-- and enjoy them! I still work some evenings (when working professionals often make time for school!) , so I can spend some time with my boys throughout my week. I understand the challenges that parents and often mothers face; trying to get an education, work and be a good parent and I bring that to my work with students everyday.
I grew up on the seacoast and live in Barrington now. It makes me feel great to speak to friends in my town who send their children to daycare or preschool programs where I know our current students are working. I know they are learning a lot in their Early Childhood classes and providing top notch care to the kids in our community. It never ceases to amaze me how interconnected we all are in this small state.
I truly believe in the mission of GSC-- it is a unique, learning community that will give you a very high-touch, small class size experience. If you ever see me at GSC, pull me aside and strike up a conversation-- I'd be more than happy to tell you more!
It has been my privilege to be a part of the second official cohort of
Leadership Rochester. We have a diverse group of members from the community, who hold a variety of roles for the town of Rochester, all coming together for the purpose of building a stronger community and to support the idea that leadership is a choice, not a position.
The Granite State College Rochester NH college campus will host the February 9th session at our new location and students from our Portsmouth-based Organizational Behavior course will join us to hear firsthand from leaders in our community about their experiences moving forward for positive change.
I have to tell you that we have fantastic work-study students this fall term in Rochester and Portsmouth. They add so much to our operations and remind us all of the student perspective in the work we do. We truly appreciate them as members of our team.
Introduction to Astronomy is just one of the interesting courses we are offering this fall at our Rochester NH college campus. Astronomy is taught by Professor John Gianforte, who is very involved over at the
UNH Observatory which is part of the University of New Hampshire System. I enjoyed taking my 5-year-old son there for the Public Sessions held on Saturday night, so he could view the constellations in the night sky. If you take the course, you will visit the Observatory in Durham as well.
John is also a gifted photographer. He is also exhibiting his astrophotography at a showing at the
Galleries at One Washington Center in Dover, begging the question -- Where do science and art meet?
A note of congratulations to our Rochester NH college campus student, Sarinya Ball, who was selected as employee of the term at the Rochester Holy Rosary Credit Union. Sarinya is a good student and member of our learning community -- she has served as a student ambassador for
Granite State College and we congratulate her on her accomplishment as she follows her career path in marketing and the pursuit of a business degree with GSC. Check out the
article about her in Fosters.
Outreach Coordinator, Becky Betts and myself were lucky enough to meet the group "Super Secret Project" when we attended the Art Esprit Rock Project events in Rochester this June. If you haven't had the chance yet, do visit the walking tour downtown and come into the new center and let us know what you think of the art!
We have arrived at our new location on Industrial Way in Rochester. Please come and visit our new site.
If you are from the seacoast area, like myself, you may remember the beautiful "shoe art" walking tour in downtown Rochester. Well, the non-profit group Art Esprit is at it again, bringing art to the Rochester community with the upcoming public art exibition, "If Rocks Could Talk: Stories from the Granite State". Granite State is seeking to support them in their efforts and looking forward to a wonderful spring of good walking tour weather in downtown Rochester! The rocks themselves are from natural settings around New Hampshire and they will be displayed through the work of local artists. Our Rochester staff is so thrilled to be a part of this community effort and we'll be looking for plenty of seacoast student support at the Rock Project events this spring. Be sure to look for our finished rock that is already in progress below, which will feature art from NH farms. Alumna Paul Sprague, who is husband to Alicia Sprague in our Rochester Center has composed a beautiful poem about it as well which will be read on the opening day of our new location in Rochester.
Just like anyone, I have my tough days at work. Days when I feel exhausted and like there is never enough time in the workday to get to everything on my plate. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to also have one of those moments that makes me realize the true value of being part of a community of learners.
Leslie Bowering, one of the students I have worked with on occasion asked me if I would allow her to interview me for one of her classes on Children's Literature. I felt honored that she would ask me, and enthusiastically (also because it had to do with my son's reading) agreed to it. Leslie explained that she has a list of questions about his likes and dislikes and his reading habits and routines. I am extraordinarily proud of my 5 year old (like all Moms are) and being an educator and avid reader myself, find nothing more satisfying than talking about his role as an emerging reader.
I told Leslie about his love of non-fiction books and his obsession with volcanoes. She questioned me about book titles he liked and didn't quite enjoy. I really valued taking the time to think this all through as it pertained to her course.
A few weeks later I found a thank you card addressed to my son and I, a copy of Leslie's paper and a wrapped Atlas for kids on my chair at work. Reading the paper, I found she was right on in her assessment of his interests and read through the suggested reading list she offered up. What great insights! I took the paper home and read it to my son, who found it pretty cool that someone would write about what he liked to read.
Thank you, Leslie. You involved me in your learning and I learned something too. I am always aware of how my work impacts my personal life and it typically isn't in a positive way. You reminded me of how great it is when it all comes together and my home life truly benefits from my work.
Talk about family loyalty to GSC! Amy Nichols is not the only person in her family to be affiliated with Granite State College. Her mother Linda Buttrick earned her Bachelor’s of Science degree with a major in Behavioral Sciences from CLL in the summer of 1990. She went on and completed her Master’s degree at UNH and was then hired at CLL as an academic advisor and continues to help guide students in Rochester today as an advisor in the Rochester Center.
Amy’s sister Christie Diamond presently teaches Developmental English courses at the Rochester Center of GSC. She has also worked as a part-time Academic Resources Coordinator for the College’s Seacoast Region and has tutored students as an ARIC for the College as well.
Now Amy, as a single mother, is completing her Bachelor of Science in Business Management. She hopes to pursue her MBA at Plymouth State University in the fall. Many congratulations to her, and best wishes to her whole family!
One of our students, Ken Neilsen, was kind enough to pass on some info about a project he was working on in one of his classes. His assignment was to interview a political figure that made an impact on his life in some way. He chose to interview our Mayor of Rochester, Thomas "TJ" Jean, as Ken is a resident of Rochester and was interested in learning more about the direction of the city. Ken returned with several pages of notes and had a very positive experience. He was surprised by how easy it was for him to secure a meeting with the Mayor and how approachable Mayor Jean was in participating in the process. What a great way to make the learning in your classes relevant to your life!
We love the success stories when we can congratulate a recent GSC graduate who has just received a promotion as a result of finishing their degree. MaryJane Lavoie, our lead Rochester advisor, passed on this wonderful story about one of our students.
Lisa Merrill first came to meet with an advisor at “College for Lifelong Learning” in the summer of 2004. She was working at the State of NH as a Family Service Specialist II, and she had already earned an Associate’s degree from McIntosh College many years earlier. But she wanted to pursue her Bachelor’s degree to be able to advance within her department at the State. She took one course per term starting in the fall of 2004, and although her progress at times seemed a bit slow (at one point dealing with a back injury and the serious illness of a family member), she steadily completed more of her requirements each year, primarily taking her courses at the Rochester Center.
She did well in her courses and made the Dean’s List for 2006-07, 2007-08, and 2008-09. By the end of the summer 2009, she had finished the last of her degree requirements, and was conferred her Bachelor of Science with a major in Management, with an Option in Leadership and Strategic Management,
at the end of December. She graduated Cum Laude and plans to attend the
Commencement ceremony in June.
Lisa has recently been promoted to a position with the State of NH Health and Human Services offices in Concord. She will be starting 4/9/10 as the Administrator I for Q/C in the Department of Improvement, Integrity and Information. This position is federally mandated as part of reviewing Food Stamp and Medical Assistance cases to make sure the guidelines and required percentages are met.
Lisa indicates that “This move would not have happened if I had not returned to school to obtain my degree.”
The Rochester GSC staff congratulates Lisa on her promotion and we all wish her much success in her new position!
I volunteered to be interviewed by one of my students who is taking our Children's Literature course currently. I was to be interviewed as a mother of a 5 year old and 2 year old, both of whom love me to read to them. She was most interested in learning about my 5 yr old's interest in books and the types of books that get him excited about reading.
Ironically, March is also my son's school's Literacy Month and his preschool class at the Child Study and Development Center at UNH was looking at ways to engage the students in reading as much as possible. So reading was in the air this month and I was more than happy to be interviewed about my child's involvement in reading. I answered questions posed as part of her assignment, to interview a parent about their child's reading practices. In being interviewed, she and I began discussing our likes and dislikes for children's books and my son's interest in non-fiction books about volcanoes and destruction (earthquakes, tornadoes). She began talking about her interest in working with boys specifically and how his interest science and all things physical reminded her of a child she had worked with years ago that had recently resurfaced in her life.
She told me the story of how she worked for a child care facility in Seabrook and had one student who challenged her and the other teaches, but she managed to reach. She went on to describe a boy who sounded a lot like my son in interest and abilities. I was intrigued. After all, I know how inspired this student has been in her pursuit of a degree that would allow her to work more with children and actually be given the chance to not only provide care for them, but to teach them and develop curriculum that meet their needs. I knew she was passionate about the story of her own professional path, so I was locked in as she told the story.
The amazing part was that she eventually told me that the student she had worked so hard to "reach" and "understand" was Scott Lago, the olympic snowboarder who had recently taken the bronze. I had watched him in the olympics and my 5 yr old (a skier who will probably try snowboarding next year) very much enjoyed seeing the "xtreme" winter games. Perhaps someday he will go the way of Scott Lago-- who may have been a challenge for the teachers when he was in preschool, but channeled his energy and enthusiasm to make his goals fit for him. This GSC student, who I know is very talented in working with and listening to children, will end up giving the gift of understanding and patience to a new generation of Scott Lagos. I'm so proud to know that she will be graduating from our institution and we helped her achieve this!
Had an enjoyable time at this past weekend's Scripps Spelling Bee, held locally at the Rochester Elks Club. There were several Rochester grade school students that participated and we were happy to attend and support the efforts of the schools in our community. What a bunch of talented spellers! The student from my hometown of Barrington, was knocked out on the word "interrupt"-- so it was unfortunate to see him not able to move on, but he did a great job representing our town. We had GSC staff at the other bees around the state and I've heard they had a similar positive experience. Great job spellers! A few students and parents stopped by our table to ask some questions about what our college offers, so learning was in the air that day.
Here is the
article in our seacoast newspaper about the Bee.
One of the other hats I wear at the college is that of Academic Support person (ARIC is the acronym, Academic Resource and Information Coordinator)-- basically, I work with students to help them be successful in their classes. We have a really talented staff of academic support folks across the college that are all very supportive and wonderfully patient. One of our recent Academic Support Alums is doing something really neat that I thought I would share. Matt Winkler, former ARIC, is taking his young school-aged son on a learning adventure to skate board around the United States learning in a hands-on way. His project is a really amazing example of how everyone's education is an adventure and you will reach your destination somehow if you allow yourself to take a risk. Go ahead and check out his website and see what state they are skating in now... www.50skatekid.com.
Good luck Matt, the college misses you and wished you well!
Just a note to remind all about our upcoming Student Activities Committee meeting on Feb. 18 from 4:30-5:30pm at the Rochester Regional Center. I am anxious to see how many students will turn out for the first meeting. I often hear from students in our region that they would love to connect with eachother more outside of the classroom. We have also invited alumni to attend this meeting and we are putting the word out to all students that this type of opportunity to engage with the college is available. Lena Grenier is the student responsible for pulling the group together and suggested the idea after a recent Rochester photoshoot. What a great way to start student initiatives to make our non-residential campus feel more like a learning community! Typically, Business, Behavioral Science Classes and classes for Early Childhood Education are our most popular majors-- so I'm hoping those groups turn out next Thursday!
See you there!
Nicole
I'm writing this post with my other hat on, that of an online educator. I'm currently teaching Developmental Writing online to students from GSC. Out of the NH Colleges and Universities, Granite State truly has it right in that our instructors are professionals in their fields and our small class sizes make both our online courses and face to face classes a close knit learning community. As a professional, wife, mother and friend, I can tell you that there is not enough time in the day for all of us to accomplish all the things we find of value in our lives. At GSC, instructors get that. We understand that we all have a lot of balls in the air and with many choices of colleges to take Portsmouth NH classes and more and more online schools for adults, you will want to get an education somewhere that understands the challenges you face outside of school.
Adult College Degree programs where you can take classes at night or from the convenience of your own home, that are also affordable, are a rarity in the state. The quality of our programs for the cost is quite good.
Teaching writing online has been interesting. Many students feel they did not get the grammar and sentence structure education in their secondary school experience. Our Developmental Writing course helps students learn the basics to prepare for Accuplacer testing in Sentence Skills. I think my students would tell you that they have learned a great deal from the class so far...more to come!
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