February 15, 2011
Plus 40 and On Campus
By NETC Student Karolyn Tredeau

I keep thinking about an old song from the 1950s by Gene Autry, “Back in the Saddle Again,” and I am! My first week of school went awry because of the snow and my sociology instructor being out. The online Religion 101 class was not held up, although he did give us extra time to complete the first assignment. I was especially glad of that because the religion course textbook was late in arriving at the college bookstore.

Speaking of books, they can be purchased online rather than at the bookstore and are thereby less expensive. However, books purchased at the bookstore can be paid for with Pell Grant funds, if available, after classes are paid for. There is also a program in place for non-traditional students to borrow books. The price of college textbooks sure gave me a shock when I first started school, but once you’re done with them, they can be sold back to the school or sold to another student. 

After being on “vacation” from school for four weeks, it was a little hard to get used to going to class again while working a full-time job, but I’ve adjusted quite well. Finding and raising an abandoned puppy also has added to my busy life and tested my patience!

I am really enjoying my Sociology 102 class, Marriage and the Family. It’s always nice to have at least one of my school acquaintances in my classes, and this is the third class I am sharing with one of my closer college friends. We are now studying male-female relationships among other things. The book assigned for reading by the end of the semester is titled “Why Men Don’t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps.” Written in a humorous way, the book is about the basic differences between men and women. It should be a fun read, but I take umbrage with the title. I most certainly CAN read maps! And I don’t need a GPS either!

NETC has started having classes on Fridays for the first time. The classes run for two hours and 45 minutes, so attendance is only required one day per week. Technology and Society is one of those classes. Much of the class is spent watching movies and reading about current and old technologies. Recently, we watched a History Channel video, “Rome: Engineering an Empire.” It was very interesting to see the accomplishments the Romans achieved in their architecture, roads and city planning. Technology sure has come a long way since the Romans, but keeping up with it is difficult these days. Maybe the class will help me with that!

Religion 101 is another enjoyable class. In some ways, I would like to have taken it in person instead of online. There is so much to discuss regarding religion. However, we have online forums for discussion. It’s still not like face-to-face discussion. I never realized how difficult it is to define religion! 

As I sit here thinking about all I’m doing at the age of 64 (yes, I had a birthday last week!) and about what my mother was doing at my age, I can see a big difference. I think I always imagined myself sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch at this age, living a leisurely, carefree life. Is anything like that possible these days? Actually, I cannot imagine living a life that sedentary. I’m too young!

Karolyn Tredeau, 64 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 December column.