Interviewees: Parents
Jeanne Crocker
Jeanne has spent her adult life in the field of education, working for 21 years as a high school teacher and serving as the principal of South Portland High School for 13 years. She is currently the assistant executive director of the Maine Principals’ Association. Jeanne also has two children, both of whom are in their twenties.
Wendy Cody
Wendy is the parent of three boys, ages 18, 15, and 8. She works as an Educational Consultant for the Portland, ME-based company Academic Merit. Wendy and her family live in Yarmouth.
Penny Gagne
Penny is a single mom living in Portland with two children, a daughter who is now in college and a son in his junior year of high school. Penny has an associate’s degree in respiratory therapy and for the past decade has been pursuing a bachelor’s degree.
Tina Pierce
Tina grew up in Monticello, ME and attended Houlton High School. She is currently enrolled in the College Transitions program through the Houlton Hodgden branch of Maine Adult Education and plans to pursue a career as a medical coder and transcriptionist. Tina has three daughters: a 13-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a three-year-old. She hopes that by getting a college education she will help to inspire her girls to do the same.
- Adult Ed Learning Center will be there to help even after she starts at NMCC
- Maine Adult Education made learning math painless
- Working in hospitals and pursuing a career as medical transcriptionist
- Wishes someone had pushed her to go to college earlier
- Going to college to be a role model for her children
Nicole Casella
Nicole grew up in Boston and moved to Houlton, ME when she was 15. Her high school career was colored by substance abuse and a challenging home life. She was not particularly interested in school and only graduated because her parents gave her an ultimatum: ‘Graduate or get out.’ She chose not to go on to college and struggled with substance abuse for years. She is now in the College Transitions program with the Houlton Hodgden branch of Maine Adult Education, and plans to go on to study for a degree in office assisting and business. She has two children, a daughter in ninth grade and a one-year-old.
Bob Cott
Bob grew up in Scarborough and attended the University of Maine, where he received a degree in Advertising and Marketing. He is now one of the owners of CD&M Communications, a Portland-based advertising firm. Bob has four children ranging in age from 11 to 21 years old.
Lynn Gustin
Lynn grew up in Long Island, NY but now lives in Houlton, ME. After graduating from high school, Lynn decided to join the military and served on active duty for six years. She then remained in the Army Reserve for another seven years while also working as a professional photographer. When she gave birth to her twins, who are now seniors in high school, Lynn made the decision to become a stay-at-home mom. Now that her children are getting ready to go off to college, she is eager to re-start her career but knows that to do so in today’s competitive job market, she needs to further her education. Lynn is currently finishing up the College Transitions program through the Houlton Hodgden branch of Maine Adult Education and plans to pursue a business degree.
- Everyone can use education to make the most of his or her individual talents
- We need to raise the bar for students
- Students are drawn to excited, passionate educators
- Learning about careers would make education exciting for many students
- Son had great experience with Exploring Engineering program hosted by UMO
Annie Donovan
Annie is a teacher and librarian who lives on Long Island off the coast near Portland. She has two daughters, the elder of whom just graduated from college, while the younger is a college freshman this year. Annie grew up in Connecticut and attended the University of Maine.
Chris Papkee
Chris is the father of two children. His daughter is a senior at Cheverus High School in Portland, while his son is in his third year at a college in New York.
Jim & Lynn Shaffer
Jim and Lynn live in Portland and have two adult children, both of whom attended college. Jim and Lynn met over 40 years ago at Purdue University in Indiana and have moved all over the country together since then. Lynn works as an architect, while Jim is the Dean of the School of Business as well as the Chief Operating Officer for the University of Southern Maine.
Amy Smith
Amy grew up in the Lincolnville and has lived there ever since. When Amy was seventeen, she gave birth to her first child and made the decision to take some time off from high school. She then returned to school a year later to earn her diploma. After spending years as a stay-at-home mom to her three children, Amy decided to go back to school. She first enrolled in the Maine Adult Education College Transitions program, then went on to study at the University of Maine in Orono, where she was the valedictorian for her graduating class (2010). She is currently in the master’s program at UMO working towards a degree in history. Her goal is to one day become a social studies teacher.
- Tough to find a balance between being a good mom and a good student
- Anyone considering going back to school should try College Transitions
- Pursuing a Ph.D. in history with the intention of being a teacher
- Credits college success to a love of learning
- Surprised to learn she was the valedictorian for her class
Angus King
Angus King served two terms as the Governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003. Since leaving office, King has worked as a lecturer at Bowdoin College, as a consultant for a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm in Portland, and as a lawyer for a law firm in Portland. King grew up in Viriginia but has spent most of his adult life in Maine. He attended Dartmouth College and the University of Viriginia School of Law. King currently lives in Brunswick.
Martha Kempe
Martha Kempe is the director of the Passages Program, an alternative high school program for teen parents. Passages works with students in their homes to help them complete their high school education.
Maya Howard
Maya Howard’s son is currently a sophomore at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics. So far, his experience at MSSM has been very positive. In this interview, Maya shares how she came to the decision to send her son to MSSM, the benefits of an MSSM education, and her insights on her son’s experience at the school.
Beth & Brad Bussiere-Nichols
Beth and Brad Bussiere-Nichols live in Portland. They have raised their three sons to survive middle school, high school, and college.
Argy Nestor
Argy Nestor is a former middle school teacher with a career spanning thirty years. Currently, she is the Visual and Performing Arts Specialist for the Maine Board of Education. Argy has two sons, one of whom studied at the College of the Atlantic and one of whom is currently a student at the University of Rhode Island.
Colleen Grover
Colleen has been a guidance counselor for over twenty years and currently works advising students at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor. She has one son, who graduated from John Bapst two years ago and has since gone on to college.
Claude Rwaganje for Parents’ Guide
Claude grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and lived there until conditions forced him to leave the country and immigrate to the United States in 1996. It was not until 2005 that his family was able to join him in the U.S. . Claude has four children: two daughters, ages 21 and 23, and two younger sons, ages 3 and 7. Claude’s two daughters are currently in college.
Zark VanZandt for Parents’ Guide
Zark VanZandt is the father of three sons, aged 35, 30, and 25. All three of his sons graduated from Gorham High School and went on to college. Zark’s oldest two sons studied out of state, while his youngest chose to enroll at University of Maine at Orono.