McGregor:

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I have an undergraduate degree in Education from Wright State. And I was a high school English teacher for approximately ten years off and on. And now I’m basically a full-time student and a photographer. I’m in the ILPS program at McGregor.

The ILPS program is the Individualized Liberal Arts Program, which means that basically you can design a program to meet your needs.

Because my degree is in Education, it kind of locked me into education. I knew that I didn’t want my master’s degree to be in education because I didn’t plan on being in education my whole life. So the ILPS program gave me the opportunity to come in and apply some of the background work that I have done in the arts. I’ve always been extremely active in the arts – during any time away from my classroom or time when I wasn’t actually teaching.

I worked on Broadway. I’ve worked for Disney. I’ve been active in theater. Because I worked within the industry, Midwest saw that I brought enough outside things with me that I could actually get an advanced degree in something other than education. I could not find another school in the state of Ohio to allow me to do that, not without going back and retooling my entire undergraduate work. I have an education degree and I taught English, and I couldn’t get into any English master’s programs because my undergraduate degree was in Education. It was going to take at least a year of undergraduate work before I could be even considered for a master’s degree in something.

Eventually I would like to work in the entertainment field, possibly for a nonprofit, maybe for a theater, maybe working in the arts in schools. Ultimately I would love to photograph concerts. Those are the types of things I enjoy doing. ^Top

Why did you choose McGregor?

I grew up here in Ohio, although I hadn’t lived here my whole life, so I was familiar with Yellow Springs. I’ve always loved Yellow Springs. I’ve always been such a fan of their art community and their cultural diversity. I spent a lot of time there.

I think I filled out a card at an education fair one day. A recruiter called, but it wasn’t something I was interested in. But it made me get online. And I started looking at the programs online and that’s when I found the ILPS program.

I really liked the flexibility and the fact that they allowed me to do something that I was telling my students to do which was to find something that you really care about, find something that you love, and build your education around it. That was something I didn’t do myself. I had to grow up to figure that out. And Midwest was the only place that said, "You pick out what you want to do and we will find a way to help you do that".

The folks at Midwest were overwhelmingly helpful. The people at Midwest spent time with me and said, “Look. These are some options. These are some other options. Maybe you want to look at this.” They didn’t say, “Here’s a catalog.” Somebody sat down and talked with me. I appreciated that. It’s a great option – especially when you feel like there aren’t any options for you.

The campus has a conscience and it has a social responsibility that it’s willing to act on. And they have people who have found great success there – there are incredible professors and writers and speakers. They’re well-known, successful people who are there to push adult learners to excel in not only your education, but also your career.

McGregor is a place that can help you define educationally who you are, and make you think about what you want to give back to the world. ^Top

How did Midwest help you professionally?

My advisor is the Dean, Dr. Holt. And he is so amazing and talented and gifted. He is so talented as an individual and as an artist.

Before starting at McGregor, I looked at the colleges in the country that I had a lot of respect for. I looked at Columbia. I looked at the colleges that had great art programs. I looked at the big New York and big Chicago colleges and universities.

And then I just sat down with Dr. Holt and I said, “These are the kinds of people I think I need. What do you think?” I thought I would like to do something with rock ‘n roll music. And he said “What about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum?” We got online and we made some phone calls. And the next thing you know, I was in Cleveland.

I spent eight weeks in Cleveland working in the Education Department at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. I reworked and retooled some of their downloadable materials, making graphic designs that would match the syllabus that teachers use to plan a trip. I created worksheets and downloads for students to use while they were at the Hall of Fame or afterwards.

My bosses at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame – one of them is a PhD candidate right now and the other has a PhD in musicology – are industry professionals. I’m working with a professional right now from southern Ohio whose master’s is from Notre Dame in photography. She has an MFA from Notre Dame. There were so many people that were willing to be a part of my program. At this point, I don’t think I’ve ever called anyone who said no. People were so willing.

My next project is an advertising project with a professor from Shawnee State. We’re doing an advertising, photography type project. I am also working on a project to market a band from the ground up. I’m writing the press kits and doing those things.

This summer, I’m looking at attending the Chautauqua Institute. It’s a summer institute in New York. And then I’ll be doing a conflict resolution class. And I’ll do that online.

I’ve never been limited to the professors on campus. I’ve got the world as my resource. It really is wide open. I’ve been able to make connections with credentialed, professional people who are working in the field and learn directly from them. ^Top

How has Midwest impacted you personally?

Because of the nature of the ILPS program, I learned that I could push myself farther than I had really initially imagined.

At first, I taught school and participated in the program. And then, all of a sudden, I just stopped teaching. I stopped teaching and started building my photography business and just working on my studies.

At McGregor, the people at McGregor, are not afraid of change and they’re not afraid of confrontation. Approaching school like that and building my business...approaching it without fear of change or fear of confrontation, it kind of revived a part of my desire to be a lifetime learner.

I have always considered myself a lifetime learner. But I find that I am personally better – a better individual – because I find myself seeking out information in journals and articles on things that interest me and make me better at what I do. I make time to read those things that I wasn’t doing for myself as a teacher. I was so wrapped up in making sure anything extra I picked up had to focus on the assessment tests or whatever national thing was going on. I didn’t take time to continually work on myself.

McGregor has really encouraged me to be the best possible person I can, and I’ve appreciated that.

I’m ready to do something completely different. Something that is exciting and that I can give part of myself in, in an artistic way rather than teaching Shakespeare to five sections of freshmen – which is just as glamorous as it sounds. ^Top

Did you have an ‘Aha Moment’ at McGregor?

Like I said, I always told my students that your education is anything that you want it to be. I used to tell them that education is a blank canvas. You can paint any picture you want to create, anything you can dream up.

As an undergraduate, I was so focused on getting the degree, and making my parents happy, and graduating, that I missed the part of education where you find something you love and build your future around it no matter what the process was. Midwest wasn’t interested in building a cookie-cutter student. They weren’t interested in saying okay, if you take these and these, you’ll be fine and we’ll sign off.

They actually pushed me to imagine what I wanted career-wise – what I wanted for the rest of my life, really. Then they helped me make a program that facilitated that.

It’s like the world is really wide open again. I’ve been out of college for ten years. I never thought at this time of my life I could step back and say I have all these options. But when I realized how big it was, it was amazing to me. I was like wow. This is what I encourage 18 year-olds to do all the time. Go out. Find something. Find a place that will let you do the things you love. I wasn’t doing it for myself. And Midwest gave me that chance. ^Top

What advice would you give to a new student?

First of all, find something you’re passionate about, that you’re willing to put the time, the money, and the energy to go to school for. Don’t limit yourself. Don’t put boundaries on the work that you want to do.

When you limit yourself and you don’t think outside the box, you can’t get the most there is to offer from a place like McGregor. So I would say think big, dream big. There are people that specialize in helping you achieve those successes and those ambitions.

I waited a long time to actually go back and get my master’s degree because I couldn’t find one thing or a place – I couldn’t settle myself on something that I was willing to put the time and the energy into, something that made me happy enough to spend x amount of dollars and x amount of time away from my family and the things that I enjoy doing.

When I was in school the first time, my family and the people around me always said that teachers eat and artists starve. At McGregor, that didn’t even register with them. They were so amazing. Basically, when I walked in I had a blank slate.

It was big – to stop doing something you’ve done for ten years and take a risk to do something completely different. Something that there really aren’t jobs for in this area. It’s terrifying. But there is this calmness and security… I guess it’s the qualification and respect for the professors and the faculty at Midwest – you have the assurance that if you step out, they’re going to meet you.

I took a huge risk. Even now, people are still amazed at the fact. And I find a lot of people really interested in this program. I realize there are so few programs like it in the country.

It’s an amazing program and it’s a lot of work and not everybody can do it. It took outstanding industry professionals and education professionals to be able to make something like this work. ^Top