The Not So Typical Student

Hello Followers!

First off I would like to apologize for this being a little late. Apparently I assumed I was going to set a record land speed on my way to sugarloaf today. This week’s blog will be a profile story on my roommate Andrew. Hope you all enjoy.

Andrew is not your typical senior at the University of Maine. For starters he is on track to graduate in four years and has already completed his capstone class. For most seniors they are on their fifth, sixth, or even seventh year with an easy workload. Andrew, on the other hand, has what seems to be a heavy workload; 8 classes that make up 18 credits that he needs to complete his degree. Yes this seems to be a lot but after further investigation one might see the brighter side of this spectrum.

Andrew came from the “free” state of New Hampshire to Orono, Maine in hopes of earning a degree in Political Science. During his freshman year he was enrolled in a class that almost all students at the university know or heard of, the Art of Listening to Music. But after two days of going to class he learned from a peer that you could enroll in an online section of the class. That night Andrew switched into the online section in hope to lighten his workload and to free up that hour block on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He completed the class with an astonishing A and told me, “from then on I has always preferred the online sections of a class. Plus there is no denying it, I clearly dominate online classes!”

This semester, Spring ’10, Andrew is enrolled in eight classes. Seven out of his eight classes are online! You really could consider him a part-time student due to the fact he has one class a week that he has to physically attend. Besides every Tuesday night from six to eight o’clock, Andrew has the freedom to do what ever he wants. He enjoys the fact that he can control when he has to “attend” class. Meaning he has to sit down at his desk and do assignments for his online classes. He ended the interview with telling me about when he met with his advisor in the Fall to discuss his Spring semester. “He told me I had earned it and he would have done the same thing if he had the option to take online classes when he was a student.”

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