Published: April 10, 2008 06:51 pm            

The desire was always there

‘You’re never too old to go back to school’

FAIRMONT — Karen Lewis never was much of a student.

She didn’t like school. She liked boys. So, when she was a junior in high school, she quit.

“A junior! Can you imagine a junior dropping out of school?” she asked.

Later, she took some weekend college courses but stopped. When her job closed, she found out she could get money to return to college as a nontraditional student.

“I always wanted to go back,” she said. “But it was always like ‘next year, next year,’ and ‘next year’ never happened.”

Now, she’s back in the classroom, pursuing an associate degree in information systems. She’s one of more than 2,000 FSU students over age 25 and fitting various other categories who have returned to college or going for the first time.

Her children are grown now, so getting her coursework done has been easier than it had before.

“I went to school when they were in school. It was tough. But I believe when you get older, you have a different outlook about school. You have more of a drive. My kids thought it was great I was going back to school.”

Now, she doesn’t even have to leave her living room to get college credit.

“I’m taking a lot of classes online and on campus,” she said. “There is a wide offering for adult students.”

She can take classes around her job, in the day, on weekend, at night, during the summer — even online.

“That’s nice for people with children. Some online classes require you come to the campus so many times. Some of them, you don’t ever have to go to campus.”

With a click of the mouse, she can log onto a class syllabus and assignments, even discussion areas.

“It’s like having a classroom right in your room. I get home from work at 11 at night and I’m not tired. I do homework to 3 in the morning. I want to wind down and I can do it.

“What I like about Fairmont State is that they offer so much for the nontraditional student. Hardly a class I go to there’s not more than one nontrad.”

She’s changed, too.

“When I first started back to school, I’d been out for so long. I had this fear of how I would do the math and English again. I didn’t know where to get extra tutoring.

“But it’s great now. They give you a compass test to find what level you’re at and you start class at that level.”

For a while, the Morgantown resident rode to college with her husband, who worked in Fairmont. She spent time in between classes at the college library, where she worked on computers

and studied.

“It was quiet concentration time. At home, you end up spending more than half your time on housework instead of studying.

“In the library, what else are you gonna do? I spent four days a week, all day from 8-5 studying and doing homework.”

It paid off: With a 4.0 GPA, she made the president’s list.

“This has helped my self-confidence personally and with my job.”

You need to spend that time on campus, she said.

“Make yourself stay at school. Don’t be there just for the classroom. Spend two hours in the computer lab. Go for tutoring at Jaynes Hall. If you have any questions, somebody there will know exactly what you need or will find someone who does.”

Got questions? There is a place for older students to go with queries about tutoring, financial aid or anything else ... Fairmont State’s Nontraditional Students Society.

You’ll get answers, Lewis promised. She should know: She’s president.

More than 2,000 nontraditional students attend Fairmont State.

“That’s a wide range of people we’re trying to reach, to let them know we’re here to support them.”

The society helps forge a bond among the students, she said.

“Sometimes you feel like you’re alone, or you have questions and don’t know who to go to. You want to talk to someone who’s going through what you’re going through. How are they dealing with kids at home and family life at home? Do they have any suggestions? We share with one another.”

She’s excited about setting up a “getting to know you” site that introduces society members to one another.

“How many times do you see someone and wonder if they have kids. Are they a single parent?

Meetings serve up pizza and soda, along with socialization and speakers from campus. Activities like bowling may also happen in the future.

“We’re all so time-pressured with work and classes. Some can’t come to the meetings during the day, but we can’t always have them at night.”

The society meets once a month. The next meeting is April 29. For more information, call Miwa Edwards, adviser and society coordinator, at 367-4208 or visit www.fairmontstate.edu/nontrad.

Lewis has inspired her daughter-in-law, Michele Edwards, to hit the books again.

“I’m really proud of her. She saw me go back, got excited and decided to go back.”

Make no mistake: If it’s intimidating for a fresh-faced

high school graduate to enter college, just try being an “older” student suddenly confronting a sea of faces so young and eager and smart.

“You’ve got all these kids,” she said, wonderingly. “But they’re getting used to seeing us now. They don’t even pay attention. They treat you the same, just like you’re one of the other students, no matter how old you are. It makes me feel comfortable.

“Now, it’s not intimidating. I don’t think anything of going and seeing all the kids.”

She loves Fairmont State, especially the Falcon Center. This is not her brother’s college, she said.

“He went there in the 1970s. What a change since then!”

Even working full time, she’s just seven classes short of getting her degree, she said.

“This is a big accomplishment for me. I didn’t have a good attitude about school when I was growing up. I quit school when I was 16. I was a ‘Miss-know-it-all.’

“I had boys on my mind. I didn’t realize what an education was until I saw what it did for my brother (Gary, who teaches at Fairmont State). I did get an office job, computer training, stuff like that.

“But that desire was always there. I wanted to get that degree but I felt because I was in my 30s, I was too old. But you’re never too old to go back to school.

“It’s amazing. You see some people in their 60s going back to school to get their degree. Some people do it to get a better position at work. Other people are tired of not getting anywhere in their present position. They make minimum wage or it’s something they don’t enjoy doing. It’s nice to do something you enjoy.”

Older students can be role models for younger ones,

she said.

“Our attitude is so different. Some of the kids are really serious about school, but a lot are just there to get away from the house. We are an encouragement to young ones because we can share just how important an education really is.

“Parents may tell them the same thing, but when they hear it from someone else, that can make a difference.”

It’s the college life for Karen Lewis now.

“It’s scary, but I wouldn’t trade going back to school. You can take just one or two classes. There’s always something interesting. I never liked history but I love it now. I’d love to take a class just to take it.

“I love it. I’d love to make a life of going to school. It feels so good.”

E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.

        

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