On Tuesday, Sept. 19, the members of the Wise Owls met to discuss their perspectives as non-traditional students on college campuses. The Wise Owls are an organization that helps give community to the non-traditional students on campus.
According to the collective members of the Wise Owls, nontraditional students are students that lie outside the common 18-22 year old demographic of students who went to college after high school or took what is deemed the standard path.
Alisa Arroyo, class of 2024, said she took the route of starting a family after high school and is now a hard-working single mother and current business owner.
“At first it was very daunting, and I didn’t feel as though I really belonged on campus. I was kind of looking for a group of people to connect with and luckily I landed in the Aspire office and met [Advisor for the Wise Owls] Beth… I can honestly say that since I have been a part of the Wise Owls, this experience has been more fulfilling for me on campus.”
When asked why they chose to pursue college later in life, Rae Ells ‘24 said, “I didn’t intentionally choose to pursue college later in life…” They spoke of going to college in New York and how they didn’t have much support from their family during that first college experience. “I was very much just dropped off and waved goodbye and I remember messaging my mom about the remaining money that I owed and what I should do and she said, ’Get a loan.’ No guidance, no nothing,” Ells said. “So, I managed to make it through my first year scraping by and I realized I can’t afford to go back to school.”
Ells said they wanted to become a teacher and eventually went back to school to become an accredited preschool teacher.
“I decided to get my bachelors in elementary education, and I chose Keene State because it is the only college within driving distance from me that has a physical education major.”
When asked what one of the benefits of being a non-traditional student was, Ells said, “We have a lot of life experiences that we bring to the table, and for me in particular it adds to a lot of the classes that I take where I can connect the material that I’m learning to a prior experience to really ingrain that knowledge in a new way.”
Junior April Wright is returning to school as a non-traditional student pursuing graphic design, after receiving a degree in accounting. “A misconception is that you don’t already have a degree.”
After serving in the Marines, sophomore Chris Conley went back to college. “Before, I didn’t have the discipline, motivation or drive when I went to college before, and now all these years later my time management skills and the ability to actually put in the hard work greatly improves not only my grades, but what I take away from my courses.”
Senior Pat Wright said, “I went to college right out of high school because that was what was expected of me and I did not have a direction when I was there.”
She said she had a successful career in portrait photography for several years before making the decision to return to school. “Now, I’ve gone back to school not because I need a degree for a career, but because it’s fascinating.”
Pat Wright also works in the Mason Library and has had access to see all the classes that are available here at Keene State. She said, “I don’t have a particular expectation for what I will do with a degree in history, but I do have a different perspective on what I want to learn, why I want to learn it and how to actually maximize my opportunities here.”
The group was asked: What is something the school could do better to help non-traditional students? This question was met with agreement from the group, their sentiment captured through Ells’ answer. “Give us a space! We don’t have a space at all on campus at all! My first few semesters here, I was lugging all my belongings around. I didn’t have space until I missed an assessment with a professor and he called me into a meeting where I broke down and told him about my struggles.
We have so many additional things that we have to worry about that traditional students don’t have to worry about. They don’t have to think about finding a place to shower, they don’t have to think about carrying a spare change of clothes, they don’t have to think about carrying everything with them because they can just go back to their dorm.”
Zach Keenan can be contacted at
zkeenan@kscequinox.com
