Hi to all - my name is Annmarie Silveri and I am a recent graduate of Granite State College. In June of '09 I graduated with a B.S. in Behavioral Science. While graduating was certainly exciting and rewarding, the three year journey of completing my studies was fun, enriching, and so very worthwhile.
I came to GSC with two Associate in Science degrees already. I had always been interested in pursuing my Bachelor's degree, but wasn't sure what to study, or how to go about it. I had looked into GSC a couple of years before I eventually started - not ready to commit at that point. What I had liked about GSC was that it focusesd on adult college classes. Another advantage here is that GSC offers evening college classes and weekend college classes.
I knew I was a bright person and a good student, but wasn't sure how returning to school as an adult would be. I can tell you I had a great time!
I found that taking classes with all adults was a very different experience than when I was a younger student. A big difference was that adult learners like to talk (a lot) and share their experiences (also a lot)! Occasionally there were students who were more quiet or shy, but on the whole I found that students typically were usually keen on class discussions. I also found that while most adult students are busy juggling jobs, kids, multiple schedules, bills, etc., etc., etc., (the list goes on and on) the adult learners at Granite State were very dedicated students.
I had the opportunity to take a variety of Behavioral Science Classes. I don't think there was ever a day that I wasn't happy to go to class (except maybe my very first class - lots of butterflies). The sense of accomplishment with each paper, test, or presentation was fantastic. Of course some classes appealed to me more than others, but I enjoyed them all! I am eager to share some of my stories with you and happy to be involved with Granite State College again.
During my behavioral science classes at Granite State College, I had the chance to take an assortment of different classes with a variety of instructors. Almost without exception, I enjoyed my classes and found the professors were knowledgable about their subject and seemed to enjoy teaching adult college classes a great deal.
Now that I'm done with my time at GSC, I wish I had had the time and opportunity to take advantage of more classes. When talking with my fellow classmates, conversations would often turn to classes that were highly recommended or a professor that was held in high regard.
As challenging as it may seem to meet the requirements for your studies, unfortunately there will be many classes of interest that remain unexplored, or professors that you never got to experience as your instructor.
I would have loved to take more classes with Dr. David Lawson whom I had for "The Human Brain" or Craig Nevins who taught "Society and the Individual". Beth Roth was my instructor for two difficult reserch classes and she often believed in our abilities more than we did. I took an independent study with Kathie Minaert and I think I would have enjoyed having another class with her as well.
The classes that intrigued me but never had the opportunity to take are numerous. There are many art classes offered but only one was needed for my course requirements. There are also English, humanities, psychology, health care and behavioral science classes that I just didn't have room for. Social science classes and sociology classes covered a broad range of interests, and regrettably, I was able to sample just a handful of these.
I hope your journey towards your degree from Granite State College is as rewarding, enjoyable and interesting as mine was. Take that first step, even if your educational goals seem too distant. The process of "getting there" was half the fun!
During my time at Granite State College, I worked hard at my studies and enjoyed my classes. At time I wondered how I would accomplish this assignment, or that project and I would find myself planning and thinking about it at the strangest times. I enjoyed my studies and wanted to give my best to my behavioral science classes.
I had a very solid GPA and was happy with that, knowing I had worked hard for it. I ws pleased and surprised when I was invited to become a meber of Granite State College's Delta Omega chapter of the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honor Society. According to Granite State College's information, "Alpha Sigma Lambda is a National Honor Society which recognizes the special achievements of adults who accomplish academic excellence while facing competing interest of home and work."
www.alphasigmalambda.org 
I won't bore you with the criteria for entrance that students must meet to be honored in this way, but am grateful to be included as a member of this group. I was inducted in the spring of 2008 and the following year was invited to help with the ceremony for the next group of inductees. Hearing the stories that inductees shared at both events was actually quite humbling at times. Many of these people had overcome great challenges along the way. To be recognized in this was as an adult learner was very rewarding and a wonderful boost to the spirit!
Making the decision to start adult education classes at
Granite State College was a hard one to make. When you're a kid and go off to college, the responsibilities you have are quite diffeent than when you're an adult. Working, raising children, managing a house and all the other challenging parts of your adult life can be daunting at times. Add to that returning to school and it can seem overwhelming.
As I look at my own children scattered through middle school, high school and college it strikes me how incredibly fast time has flown. They are on their ways to young adulthood and it boggles my mind how incredibly fast that journey has been. Certainly, there were many times while "in the trenches" that time crawled, now I can see how quickly the years have passed.
To any of you who are contemplating a return to college as an adult learner, but feel a little stymied by how long it will take until you finish your degree I respectfully say to you "So What!"
What I mean by that is the time will pass, and you will accomplish what you set out to do. I met someone once who wanted to return to school but said in dismay, "I'll be 30 by the time I finish in 3 years!" as if that was an enormous obstacle in her way. The truth is that you'll still turn 30 (or whatever!) in that time period whether or not you're in school. At times it may seem as if you're slogging along with no end in sight,
but you can earn your degree. Yes, you will be that much older, and have worked hard, but the end will come and be worth it. You will then see your return to college from a different perspective and realize how quickly the time has passed.
I had the opportunity to take a variety of behavioral science classes as I was earning my degree at Granite State College. I was always on the lookout for a class that would meet my requirements and be something different, something that I hadn't taken before.
About three years ago I took "Men and Women in Cross Cultural Perspectives" as part of my adult education classes at GSC. I believe it was offered during the summer as a weekend intensive. It was a very interesting class as we studied the different roles that men and women have in different cultures throughout the world.
I don't think I knew anyone in that class from prior classes. While it's always nice to see a familiar face, it's equally interesting to go into a classroom and know no one as in this case. We were all women in the class except for one young man from Africa who was studying in the USA. It was actually terrific to have his insight in this class as he was younger than most of us, was from an entirely different culture and was the only guy in this class of women! Even among the women, who at face value had very similar cultural experiences, the diversity of opinion and perspective was rich and surprising.
Granite State College offers many of its adult education classes courses in a format called "weekend intensives". It's a convenient way to take a full credit class over a couple of weekends.
I took a number of classes for my behavioral science degree through this option. Each term a great number of classes are offered as weekend intensives. Frequently I was able to take a class that was scheduled for one night a week, along with a weekend intensive. It was a great way to earn more course credits and with minimal stress.
I found that weekend classes were usually intense but also low key. That may sound like a contradiction, but not really, let me explain. The classes that I took would typically meet first on a Friday evening, then Saturday and Sunday for a full day. There was usually a pre-assignment due the first weekend. Intense discussions and group work would be part of the class experience. New assignments or projects would be given that were to be completed before the next class meeting. Typically this second weekend would come a few weeks later. At the end of this last weekend there might be another assignment due, maybe not.
While that may sound like a lot of work in a little time, well it was. The assignments were usually pretty easy to juggle because of the time between classes. The great part was that the class time itself, while busy and involved, was usually structured in such a way that was pretty laid back. We were giving up our weekends in order to attend, but in its way it was very easy going. I found weekend intensive courses to have a very different feel than classes offered on the weeknights. The weekend schedule made it easy to take even when taking a weeknight class at the same time and the atmosphere in the weekend classes was pretty rewarding too.
The Manchester Campus of Granite State College used to be in the old terminal building at Manchester-Boston Airport. Inside the beaufiful staircase with the mezzanine surrounding the second floor harkened back to the days when air travel was much new and still had a sense of leisure and prestige. Taking classes inside this building, one got a sense of the history of the airport, and the "classiness" that once was synonymous with air travel.
Things sure have changed in terms of flying nowadays.
Things have changed too at GSC. The Manchester NH classes now have a new home. The campus is now housed in an old refurbished mill building. I recently had the chance to visit the campus at 195 McGregor Street. The building itself is grand, the inside is beautiful. It has fantastic old, wide plank floors and high ceilings. Huge windows make the space bright and sunny and exposed brick is everywhere. The classrooms are spacious and parking is easy. This old mill building, like the previous campus in the terminal building, is steeped in history and full of charm.
While I'm no longer a student, I will remember fondly my time at the old airport building. The planes landing and leaving were part of our classroom environment. I am a little envious though of the students who will be at the new (though very old) building as they take their adult education courses. The work and activity that once took place when this building was a bustling mill can still be felt. Now, students get to enjoy this fabulous space while achieving their academic goals!
As I mentioned before, I came to Granite State College with two associate degrees. As I pursued my Behavioral Science classes, I was looking for ways to earn credits in non-traditional ways. One approach to this is to consider receiving "prior learning credit". Go to the "Prospective Students" tab on the GSC home page and click on the side bar for "prior learning credit". There are links for "testing", "workplace training", "military training", or "portfoloi ssessment" with tons of information and associated links.
Many of the class credits that I came with would have been duplicates of the tests offered. I was able to find a class that I was interested in and that I could earn three college credits as an elective. I found a suggested reading list and borrowed 2 or 3 books. After spending a few weeks reviewing them, I felt quite comfortable as the test date approached.
So manyof the test are now computerized that you know right away if you've passed them. I did well on my test and was able to earn those 3 credits. The results of the test are then sent back to Granite State College. Unfortuntely, somehow those results didn't show up for a long time. After talking with my advisor, she tracked down the results and they were added into my academic record.
This left me with a pesky little 1 credit that still needed to be filled. On occasion there are one or two credit classes that are offered. When I saw a one credit class offered, I pounced on it. It was a class about river ecology and included a research paper and a day spent along the river's edge. It was very different for me, but enjoyable and a nice change of pace and a terrific day out in a beautiful setting. The only downside of this was was getting closer to animal scat than I had intended!
The only cautions I would have about this approach to credit for prior learning is to keep checking in with your advisor to make sure the credits you've earned are properly posted to your record and also the availibity of classes to fill any left over credit requirements. It would be great if these one or two credit classes were offered more frequently, as I'm sure that many people scramble to try and fill those extra necessary credits. Prior learning testing is an easy (and easy on the budget) way to earn college credit for your adult education courses.
A new term is beginning and a new start with it. The beginning of each new term for me was a reflection on what class I'd just finished, how far I'd come in my journey, a sense of satisfaction and also looking forward to the next steps in my studies at Granite State College.
From the beginning I took at least one class almost every term, somtime I took two. There was one term that I did not take any behavioral science classes at all. I know of some people who finish
ed their adult education classes in record time, and some took it more leisurely, as much as eight years. It took me about three years from beginning to end, though there were a couple of years of "thinking about it" before I actually started.
As I accumulated credits and knowledge, I realized th at for me the journey had become as important as the end goal of graduation. Now that I've been finished at Granite State College for almost a year, I can say that while I'm grateful to have accomplished my goal, it's also a touch sad that this educational expedition is over.
I met a lot of new people, some I still keep in touch with. In each class there was a unique mixture of students. Mostly it was a great mix, and ocasionally less than great.But, that's the way it goes...some people we click with and some we don't, but that's part of an education too!
Whether you're starting your first class at GSC or quickly approaching graduation I hope you enjoy your time learning and look forward to whatever is the next step on your journey.
Because I had come to Granite State College with transfer credits, I didn't have a lot of electives to take. Most of the subjects that I took were requirements for my Behavior Science classes. At one point I did have an opening that needed to be filled by a humanities elective. I scoured the possibilities. It was going to be during the summer term and I wanted something either in Concord or Manchester. Did I want something at the Currier Art Museum? A language? I wanted it to be something that I would enjoy, something I hadn't tried before...hmmm.
At Michelle's suggestion (see my previous post for our statistical adventure) I signed up for a "Fundamentals of Acting" class. She had taken this course and had really liked it. I had my doubts, but was looking forward to doing something entirely different. It only seemed fair that I should take this course, aftr all I had gotten my son involved in acting when he was a little boy. He's still enjoying acting while in college. I kept telling myself that if he could do it, and Michelle could do it, so could I.
The first thing that surprised me about this class was how many men were in it. There were only two other women beside me, the rest of the class was men. Never had I been in a class where the majority of students was men. This was just the beginning of the surprises in this class.
The instructor for this class was a hoot. She was so funny and laughed at everything we did. On our first test we were required to stand up in class and sing a song from a musical!! We all thought that she was kidding, she wasn't. We all, one by one, belted out lines from any song from a musical that we could remember. I believe I sang (badly) something from South Pacific.
Each week as I drove to this class my stomach would start doing flip-flops thinking about what crazy, nutty things we would have to do this week. Any and all inhibitions about looking foolish had to be dropped at the door. Jumping in with both feet was required. I don't think I've ever laughed as much in any class ever. The acting games that we played helped me to be less nervous and critical of my talent. It also was great knowing that we were all in the same boat. We had a dress up "mocktail" party as one assignment. We did lots of crazy group activities that were lots of fun.
Our last class consisted of a one act play that we had rehearsed with our acting partner. We invited friends and family to see our plays as we presented them to the class. Though I had never acted before or been on stage and was extremely nervous, I had a great time. Michelle came and I remember hearing her crack up through my whole play. This class was a blast every time we met. Stepping out of my comfort zone was tons of fun. Who knew adult education courses could be so fun!
One of the classes that I was least excited about was Math 504 also known as "Introduction to Statistics". Of all the adult college classes I would have to take, this one scared me. I know of more than one person who saved this class until the very end of their time at Granite State College. I happened to see my friend Michelle from GSC at the grocery store one day and we both committed in the produce aisle to take statistics during the upcoming term. Neither of us was thrilled about this class, but we knew it had to be done and doing it together seemed like a good idea.
STEMPLOTS MARGIN OF ERROR
sAMpLiNG tHeoRY DISTRIBUTION CURVE
HISTOGRAMS STANDARD DEVIATION
QUANTITIVE MEASURES
CONFIDENCE INTERVALS SCATTER PLOTS OUTLIERS
I had heard stories from other students about how difficult this class was. I remember seeing people exit the statistics class while I was taking another class and to me, they had that "deer caught in the headlights" look. This was going to be me next term, I was not looking forward to it at all.
Michelle and I appeared for our first class. Because this was a requirement for our Behavioral Science classes there was others like us filled with fear and trepidation. We started in with all the rest. The whole class voiced similar concerns to mine. There were moments of confusion, sometimes occasions of clarity as we plowed through the first of our twelve classes, our heads swimming. What had we gotten ourselves into?
Michelle and I decided that we would meet every Sunday afternoon to review our class notes and work on our homeowrk. We met at a bookstore, ordered coffees and plunged into our work. Frequently we worked for four hours at a time. We found that we were able to get through each homework assignment one problem at a time. If one of us was frustrated or lost we were able to put our heads together. If our answers didn't agree we reviewed our work to see where we'd gone wrong! Every Sunday when we eventually finished our homework we had a dizzying sense of relief.
The rest of the students in class were a fantastic bunch of people. I have never been in a class with such a sense of camaraderie. We all wanted to succeed. We were all willing and able to help one another. We would often come to class early to review problems or concepts that we weren't sure of. Our instructor was very knowledgable and neither he nor the subject itself was as intimidating or scary as I had heard (aren't there always stories like that?).
Well we made it through, in one piece and way more knowledgable about statistics than when we started. It wasn't so bad after all. I remember during our final exam someone was making huge sighs. At one point we all burst out laughing. It was such a tension reliever to just be goofy in ths middle of the test. You know how it t is when you just get laughing and can't stop? This Intro to Stats class that I had dreaded ended up being one of the most fun and interesting classes that I ever took at GSC. I enjoyed the instructor, all of my fellow classmates and Sundays with Michelle while we labored our way through our homework. The class was so supportive of each other and the instructor was great. I never would have guessed that something so scary at the beginning could have been such a positive experience at the end.
I recently started a four week program on "stress reduction through meditation". I've found that the best time for me to meditate is early in the morning while everyone else is asleep, before the day starts. I usually wake up before my alarm goes off so I get up and meditate then. When I'm done I've just barely started my day, but feel like I've already accomplished so much. I hope to continue taking the this time for myself and meditate every morning. I'm learning how to take that calm with me through my day (though not always successfully)!
I was first introduced to meditating through two of my classes at Granite State
College. Over my years at GSC I had the opportunity to take some of my classes as "Weekend Intensives". (As an aside, I highly recommend taking weekend college classes. Maybe more on that later...).
I took a Comparative Religions class and we explored many different faiths and practices. We went to a Buddhist Temple, had two Islamic men come and share their faith with us, went to a Catholic service and we also learned about meditation. This was the first time I'd ever meditated and it was a brand new experience for me. Sister Mary Anne was a wonderful teacher and a wise woman. She explained that "intention" was more important than "attention" when meditating. To me that meant attempting and practicing meditation was key, rather than worrying about doing it "right". The calm I experienced with meditation was welcome, but as the class finished, and the rest of everything demanded my attention, my meditation practice became nonexistent.
A year or so later while pursuing my adult college program I choose to take a class called Spirutual Wellbeing. This was another fabulous class. Jackie, our instructor, was knowledgable and enthusiastic and the students in class openly shared where they were on their own spiritual journeys. Again we focused on different types of meditative practices. For me this was refreshing and calming. I enjoyed the time in class and being open to all the different ideas that people brought to class. I remember being so impressed by one young woman in class and the journey that she was on and how this class had impacted her life. At the end of class everyone had to make a presentation. The young woman who impressed me so much gave us all a quote from Mother Theresa (which I still have). Some of the other presentations had us doing art projects, some focused on meditating. The meditations in class were quieting and restorative, but unfortunately fell by wayside as before.
This new four week class I've started at a local health care center has me now meditating again. GSC started me on this meditative path and I hope to continue forward with meditation as a part of my day.
Well, I'd finally done it. After talking about it and thinking about it for a couple of years, I'd finally committed to returning to school. I was going to be taking adult college classes towards my bachelor's degree. Now came the hard part - attending the Manchester NH classes, doing the work, learning new things, studying, oh and living the rest of my life too.
I had been counseled to start with a critical thinking class. It's a required class and many "newbies" start with it. It's a good way to get into the swing of college work. I tried to imagine what my first class would be like and could readily picture not having a word to say - which of course was wrong, I had lots to add!
I ordered my books and eagerly looked through them. One was comparable to a book of puzzles which was meant to get us to practice our critical thinking. As we went through our classes this book was actually a lot of fun. Word puzzles, math puzzles - it was satisfying to solve them. I do have to admit that there were a couple that escaped me - though I think most of us had some that stumped us. Not everyone thinks and reasons the same so it was interesting to see how others solved the puzzles.
We also studied two writings, one by Lincoln and one by Martin Luther King. We had to them and I found myself thinking about what I was going to write, the points I wanted to include, etc. It was actually a very creative process and as my paper went from thoughts to words on paper the confidence grew.
Our final assignment for the class was to read and analyze a novel by Steinbeck. We discussed in class how we might approach our papers. I recall one young woman's take on the novel that totally impressed me. She had seen something that made so much sense, but I had not seen it for myself. It was interesting for me to hear what others thought and how they were going to approach their paper.
I knew that I wanted to take a novel approach also and illustrate a theme that might not be immediately self evident. Again, I found myself thinking about my paper and the points I wanted to make. Submitting this final paper and being proud of what I had written was one of many milestones on my way to my adult college degree in behavioral science. Yeah me!
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