Interviewees: Students / Twenties
TJ Williams
TJ moved from Las Vegas, Nevada to the small town of Rumford, ME during his freshman year of high school. The move was a major transition for TJ, but he’s very glad he ended up in Maine! He graduated from Rumford Valley High School in 2008 and went on to enroll at the University of Southern Maine, where he now studies Technology Management. TJ works and is active in many student organizations at USM, in addition to serving as the student body class president.
Seth Robinson
Seth grew up in Windham, ME and graduated from Windham High School. He went on to study video production at SMCC for two years before transferring to the media studies program at USM. He now works as an in-studio camera operator, audio engineer, and master control operator at WCSH6.
Lauren Murphy
Lauren Murphy grew up in Old Orchard Beach, ME and attended Old Orchard Beach High School. She is now a senior student studying music education at the University of Southern Maine.
Jenna Guiggey
Jenna Guiggey grew up in the small town of Sherman in Northern Maine, where she attended Katahdin High School. Jenna is now a senior student studying music at the University of Southern Maine.
Christina Zahn
Christina grew up in Lewiston, ME and attended Lewiston High School. After graduating, she chose to attend USM to study music education. Christina is now a senior.
Austyn Resek
Austyn grew up in a small town in Southern Vermont. After graduating from high school, Austyn decided to enroll at the University of Southern Maine, where she is now a senior studying athletic training. After college, she plans to either go to graduate school for athletic training or join the Peace Corps.
Alexandria Lewis
Alex Lewis grew up in York, ME and attended Berwick Academy in South Berwick, ME. After graduating in 2007, Alex first decided to go to the University of Maine at Orono. She found that the large university atmosphere wasn’t for her, however, and transferred to the University of Southern Maine, where she is now a senior studying psychology. Her plans for the future include graduate school and a career in counseling.
Kylie Keene
Kylie is the 2012 “spokester” for Young & Free Maine, a Maine Credit Union League program to provide information and services to Mainers in the 18-to-25 crowd. She grew up in Hallowell, ME, and attended the University of Maine at Orono, where she studied journalism.
Jessica Thistle
Jessica is a young mother currently taking classes through Maine Adult Ed to prepare her for college. She grew up in Standish, ME and attended Bonny Eagle High School. She had planned to go to college after graduating from high school, but changed her plans after learning she was going to have a child. Now she’s ready to go back to school, where she hopes to study behavioral health and science.
Kate Damon
Kate grew up in Lewiston, ME and attended Lewiston High School. She then left Maine to attend Harvard University in Boston, MA. After college, Kate stayed in Boston to teach math at an underperforming middle school. She now works for a small math education company based out of Cambridge, MA and is going to school to become a nurse midwife.
Ina Lewin
Ina grew up in Freedom, ME and was homeschooled for most of her educational career. She attended public schools briefly, but did not feel that the public school environment was a good match for her and returned to homeschooling. She has worked at her family’s greenhouse since she was 13 years old. Ina recently finished a GED preparation course with her local Maine Adult Education branch, RSU#3 Adult Education. She now has her GED and plans to attend Kennebec Valley Community College in the fall to study sign language and math.
Krystle Smith
Krystle grew up in Waterville and moved to Brunswick after her parents divorced when she was nine years old. She attended Brunswick High School. High school was a difficult time for Krystle, as she was responsible for caring for her elderly grandmother and keeping up the house. After high school, Krystle worked as a line cook for several years before deciding that she wanted to do more with her life by pursuing a college degree. She is now a student at Southern New Hampshire University, where she studies psychology. To get extra help in math – the subject with which she has the most difficulty – Krystle takes math courses through the Brunswick Adult Education program.
Emily Avis
Emily is a technical service specialist at Artel Inc., a Westbrook-based technology company. Growing up, Emily moved all across the United States, living in California, Vermont, and New Hampshire. She attended the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where she studied mechanical engineering. After college Emily moved to South Korea to work as an English teacher. She spent a few years there and the moved back to the United States to work as a mechanical engineer at Bath Iron Works. Today she is loving her job at Artel, which combines her two biggest career passions: teaching and doing hands-on mechanical work.
Tracy Reid
Tracy grew up in Lowell, MA, where she attended a vocational high school. Instead of finishing high school, Tracy left when she was 17 and began working as a nurse’s assistant. A few years ago she moved to Maine and she and her husband now live in Gardiner. Tracy is still working as a CNA but recently acquired her GED through Gardiner Adult Education and plans to attend college to get her RN degree.
Tim Even
Tim grew up in Stoneham, ME and attended high school at Fryeburg Academy. He is now a Vocal Jazz Performance major at the University of Southern Maine. He plans to join the United States Army Special Forces after graduating from college.
William Wegener
William grew up in Falmouth and attended Falmouth High School. He is now a student of Music Performance at the University of Southern Maine, where he runs on the track team. He hopes to have a career as a musician.
Kinnon Church
Kinnon grew up in Salem, MA and attended Salem High School. He is currently studying Jazz Performance at the University of Southern Maine and plans to pursue a career as a professor of music.
Andy McDonald
Andy was born in New York City and moved to Maine when he was 11 years old. He attended Cape Elizabeth High School for his freshman through junior years, then switched to Portland High School for his senior year due to turbulence in his home life. After high school, Andy decided to enlist in the Marine Corps. Now Andy is out of the military and is working to support his wife and young daughter while simultaneously attending USM. He plans to pursue a career in engineering or computer science.
Brandie Miville
Brandie grew up in Thorndike and attended Mt. View public schools until her sophomore year, when she chose to finish her high school education through homeschooling. After graduating in 2004, Brandie had two children and began her own at-home childcare business. In order to have more job options in the future, Brandy decided to attend college to study early childhood education, but the college she applied to would not accept her homeschool high school diploma. So, Brandie headed over to her local Adult Ed branch and took the course to prepare for her GED. She had a great experience with Adult Ed and is now working towards her degree at Kennebec Valley Community College.
Corey Sturgeon
Corey grew up in Old Orchard Beach and attended Old Orchard Beach High School, graduating in 2007. He then went on to the University of Maine, but decided to transfer to the University of Southern Maine for his senior year. After switching majors twice during his time in college, Corey decided to pursue his long-time interest in psychology. For financial reasons, Corey has been unable to finish his degree at USM as yet but hopes to earn his final three credits and graduate soon. He currently works as a manager at Olympia Sports. Corey is 22 years old.