May 15 , 2010
PLUS40 & OnCampus
By NETC Student Karloyn Tredeau

Spring semester is over and classes for Summer term started on Monday here at NETC.  I’m looking forward to taking classes this Summer but I should first mention two positive experiences I had during the Spring semester.

In College 103, we were given a Career Project, in which we had to choose a career and write about it in MLA (Modern Language Association) format.  As with much of the new work I’ve had to face, this seemed to be a daunting task at the outset.  However, once I read the directions and found help online to cite sources of information, it was a breeze.  Although I had already chosen a career, doing this project showed me exactly what goes into my chosen field, what the pay is, what the outlook is, etc. In the beginning of the semester, I thought College 103 was rather redundant for an older person.  Now I’m ending the semester seeing how helpful and eye-opening the class has been for me and how it can help other plus40 students.

Though I started out failing two Math 150 (Pre-Algebra) tests; I came back strong with good marks by the end of the semester.  In the beginning, I didn’t understand a thing. It was all “Greek” to me.  However, with time and study, I have learned quite a lot and have a good foundation for my next Algebra class. I guess it’s true what they say about opening new neural pathways in “old” brains!

Looking back to when the semester began in January, I can see that I have made changes based on these two experiences. And making those changes was essential to getting decent grades in these two classes.  I’ve also met some great people, a few of whom I will continue to be in contact with long after I finish my goals here at NETC, that have helped me.  In fact, we have helped each other tremendously.  Studying together was very helpful in improving our grades and I know I’ll be meeting more new friends in the coming semesters.  I’m excited about that prospect, especially knowing it has the potential to positively effect my grades!

I will be taking two classes over the summer – Psychology and Computer 101. Here we go again! The computer class seems redundant to me, since I’ve been working on computers for over 20 years.  I think, though.  One thing I’m learning here at NETC is to not “judge a book by its cover” when it comes to classes, so I am looking forward to this class.  I’m also really looking forward to Psychology.

I think the summer at NETC will be quite different from spring semester. There are less classes and less students, for one. The atmosphere will certainly be changed.  Now that I’m enculturated (Learned that in Sociology 101.) into the college life, I feel much more comfortable  being there.  If I ever want to graduate from NETC with an Associate of Arts degree, I will have to pick up the pace in the fall.  That’s one good thing about being back in school, I can take as many classes as I want; and if it is too much to handle, I can drop classes up to a certain date.

I received my first email response to the column last week. Someone really is reading it! If you would like to “talk” more, email me! I most certainly will respond and will appreciate your feedback.

Karolyn Tredeau, 63 of Ruby, entered college after taking a 40-year hiatus from formal education.  She is a student at Northeastern Technical College and will write about her experiences in this column, “Plus40 & OnCampus” once a month.  Karolyn can be reached at  karolynt@shtc.net.

Read Karolyn's April column