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FARMINGTON – So you want to go to college, but it’s been years since you graduated high school.
Now what?
In the Franklin County Adult Education building on the Fairbanks Road, a diverse group of residents gathered. The ages, the backgrounds, the stories are varied: the employee who was let go after more than 20 years, the mom who wasn’t certain how to turn a computer on, the young person who just decided it was time to better themselves. They all have two things in common: they took part in Franklin County’s College Transition Program.
And they’re all going to college.
“Many of our students will become first-generation college graduates,” said Nancy Dionne, coordinator for the local program. Would-be participants, she noted, should have a high school diploma and a desire to experience secondary education.
The sixth semester of the 14-week program will be wrapping up in a couple of weeks. The program is funded through a Department of Education grant, and residents can participate for free. The class teaches math, reading, college-level writing as one might expect, but it also offers a technology component, training students in the use of computers and popular programs.
Graduates of the program, offering advice for the current class in a panel discussion, said that the skills they learned there made all the difference. Besides the skills, the confidence they gained had been one of the biggest benefits. They related their own stories and what they were achieving in school.
“It’s been a long, strange trip,” Central Maine Community College student John Neal told the class. “Life has a way of changing if you let it.”
The current college students offered their own advice, some on broad topics and some on the details, but all of it eminently practical. Don’t schedule classes five minutes apart, on opposite ends of the campus. Save course syllabuses in case you want to transfer credits to a different school. Use Powerpoint, not posters, for presentations. Don’t buy books at school bookstores. Choose advisers carefully.
“You need to advocate for yourself,” Neal told the transitional students.
Many graduates of the transitional program go on to attend class at CMCC, or traditional universities like the University of Maine at Farmington. Others attend classes in Franklin County, thanks to the Franklin County College Network.
“Many do go on to take classes in the local network,” Franklin County Adult Education Director Ray Therrien said. “But that’s not required.” The local program, he noted, could now offer a resident an entire education from GED to college transition classes to earning a college degree itself.
Those interested in the college transition program can call Franklin County Adult Education at 778-3460.
