by Rachel Kempen
Contributing writer
Since 2006, Jennifer Liberty-Clark, a proud member of Cambridge’s Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) psychology department, has been connecting with students on more than just an intellectual level.
To her, college is more than just shuffling students around, and memorizing certain facts. It is about a time in a student’s life to reinvent, and discover their true selves.
“We are all like onions, with many layers. Peeling them back is finding our true self. I feel like it’s a life process, for sure, but as far as my career goes the onion has been peeled. I have found the inner core, the thing that was written for me to be, and to do long before I was born,” said Liberty-Clark.
However, Liberty-Clark didn’t always know that she’d end up with her career path as an educator. It took her years of peeling back the layers, and a twist in the road to find her purpose in life.
Psychology wasn’t anything new to Liberty-Clark growing up. Her uncle, George Petrangelo, was a psychology professor at St. Cloud University. Although, it wasn’t so much his two master’s degrees and doctorate that impressed her, but his knowledge for people, and how he interacted with them, mentioned Liberty-Clark.
It wasn’t until college as a freshman that Liberty-Clark truly got hooked on psychology, she said. The final push was a general psychology course. By 1991, Liberty-Clark received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in psychology with an emphasis in human resource management.
While working at a bank Liberty-Clark went on to earn her master’s degree in 1995 at St. Cloud University with two focal areas in counseling psychology and vocational rehabilitation. However, has life would have it, by the time she graduated with her degree the State of Minnesota had changed their licensing laws. “Basically, counselors were made obsolete with only a master’s degree, because insurance companies wouldn’t pay for them,” said Liberty-Clark.
“I was very disappointed and so went back to the bank to work while I figured out my route. I ended up working for Dale Carnegie Training in their Minnesota branch selling training/consulting services to fortune 100 and 500 companies. I also began actually training our customers. I did that for 10 years when I took an adjunct position at Century Community College teaching lifespan psychology,” said Liberty-Clark.
Slowly after that she eased her way out of the training and development field and into teaching at ARCC, Liberty-Clark explained.
Since then she has been teaching students about more than just theories of psychology, and the theorists that created them; she has been teaching them to believe in themselves, and embrace education, and how they can be the voice of change in the world. If nothing else, Liberty-Clark hopes to teach students that they are worthy of a college education, of being successful and grabbing happiness as their own. “If they leave my classes seeing ‘the cup half full rather than half empty’, I’ve done my job,” added Liberty-Clark.
by Michael Relitz
Contributing writer
Some teachers obtain their degrees looking toward teaching at universities, yet others prefer state schools and smaller community colleges. Dr. Kate Maurer, member of the Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) English department, has had the best of both worlds.
Maurer was born in Little Falls, Minn and raised in St. Cloud, Minn where she attended a parochial high school. Maurer grew up believing she could be whatever she wanted to be, thanks to her mother’s praises.
In her early post-secondary education, Maurer was engaged in scientific studies. She believed that a person always had to study something that was a challenge to them, but she soon became ill and fell behind.
Maurer recalled, “When I was a sophomore in college I got very sick. I ended up missing about a month of school, and if you miss a month of chemistry and calculus when they are not easy for you to begin with, you will never catch up.” It was at that point in her education that Maurer had an epiphany. She added, “That’s when I realized, ‘wow, I don’t have to take something that’s hard for me.’ I always enjoyed literature and reading, and it never dawned on me that I could study for something that I have an affinity for.”
Maurer explained that she was drawn to teaching by example. “I had some really good role models -- some professors who I just would do anything for. They were amazing, which made me want to be like them.”
Maurer went on to obtain her bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth and followed that with a masters from Marquette University in Milwaukee where she also got her doctorate.
While at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Maurer worked as a teacher’s assistant (T.A.). She stated, “I was a T.A., which in our field means you run the whole class. It doesn’t mean you help the professor, you are the professor.” She added, “Once I started doing that I really liked it. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to go but I found that I really sort of grew into my personality once I had to be in charge of a classroom, and I really enjoyed it. First it was to pay the bills and it quickly became something I very much enjoyed.”
Maurer has been teaching in one capacity or another since 1989. Before coming to ARCC she taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth for nine years. Maurer stated, “I wanted to come to a teaching-centered school. I had some philosophical differences with the approach of the four-year school.” Those differences were enough to convince her to make the move to the smaller campus of ARCC.
Comparing ARCC to the University of Minnesota Duluth, Maurer said, “I like that it [ARCC] is very student orientated. To me that doesn’t mean, bend over backwards and do whatever the students want, but it means I’m given the freedom to spend time with you, to help you to get to know you as opposed to, just ‘get them through, don’t care about them, push them on through.’ We are encouraged to get to know our students individually and spend time with them.”
Maurer explained that she is happy with her decision to make the move to a smaller school and has no future plans on moving back to a bigger school. She is currently involved in teaching courses at ARCC such as: college writing and critical reading, British literature, introduction to literature, and the art of watching films. She also hopes to one day teach a special topic Shakespeare course.
by Rachel Kempen
Journalism student
Who knew that Girl Scout leaders, and craft workshops could be the wake-up call to becoming an instructor? MaryAnn David, a business instructor at Cambridge’s Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) sure didn’t know. “I started teaching art workshops and trained adult Girl Scout leaders. Then it occurred to me that I wanted to be a teacher. I really enjoyed sharing my skills,” said David.
David has since then spent over 30 years as a teacher, and another 15 years as a college instructor. Today one can find her teaching business classes at ARCC. However, she won’t be there for all that much longer. “Currently I’m at retirement age; I plan to continue at this college as an instructor for perhaps a few more years but after that it’s time to pack my bags,” explained David.
Over the course of 45 years of teaching, David has learned a lot about herself she said. “I didn’t expect so much fun and enjoyment in doing what I now love to do! I didn’t ever think I could be teaching college level courses. It’s very exciting!” David stated.
“I have learned that the more I teach, the more I realize I don’t know. I learn so much from my students every day. It’s great to learn from them,” said David. “I am still in awe of what I do!”
During her time as an ARCC instructor, David said she had one student teach her an important lesson. There is nothing like a good nap. “I taught a keyboarding class to a very elderly couple (husband & wife) who tried their very best to manage the keyboard. Once though the elderly man fell asleep at the computer, and just leaned on the keys resulting in numerous pages of the same letter of the alphabet going on and on. I just let him sleep, as did his wife,” explained David.
However, David does the majority of the teaching in her classes. There she spends her time reaching out to students, and teaching them about computers and their software. But David said didn’t always teach about computers.
“I’ve always been a good typist and have had years of experience as a secretary. When everything changed to computers, I liked the idea of composing letters and messages via the keyboard and making corrections as you go. We used to use correction tape and white-out and before that, typing erasers and carbon paper. Can you even imagine?” stated David.
But that wasn’t the only thing that excited David she said. “I love the ability to think and speed-write as you go, and then make the corrections right in front of you before printing. Also, because I am not very good at math, I so enjoy Excel because it can do my math for me!” David explained.
Although David can agree that computers and technology often benefit people, there are some down sides she points out. “With today’s technology and the demand for accelerated, on-line classes, I feel the ‘personal touch’ has been lost. I believe personal communication is critical, and that seems to be gravitating more and more toward ‘texting’… Where is the interpersonal communication and reading of body language to interpret the message as intended?” commented David.
Also David mentioned that technology doesn’t come without its faults. “The college network has a way of ‘acting up’ and it gets frustrating when the computer saves a student’s files to a place where they then can’t find them again,” explained David. “Sometimes though the students just need to pay a little bit more attention to where they save things,”
Although technology can be frustrating, it doesn’t have to be scary said David. “I wish for my students to not be afraid of the computers and to try new things out,” she said. With her older generation students David understands that most are afraid and don’t like the change that technology brings. She can relate.
“At mid-life, I once went from a manual typewriter on the job to an electric, and that was miserable! Younger folks don’t seem to hesitate about jumping into new things and adapting; perhaps they don’t have the experience behind them to see what could go wrong,” David stated.
However, she explains that one shouldn’t be held back by technology but embrace it. “I am at retirement age and going strong; my mother-in-law is 88 with a computer and plays games and surfs the Internet all the time,” said David. “But, I understand that computers can intimidate both the old and young.”
For the next couple years MaryAnn David says she will remain at the ARCC campus. During that time she says her positive and cheery personality will be there to continue to teach students to not be intimidated by computers. She boosts, “I’m quite animated and lively in the classroom.”
By Angelina Geinosky
Michael Seymour is the vice president of operations at the Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) Coon Rapids Campus. Seymour is an anomaly; at least that’s how he described himself. “In the way that I work, play, and view life, I’m a little bit different. I have the comfort from across all social classes, in the way that I can be up on 65 at fat boys, with a table full of bikers and feel at home, or I could be hobnobbing with professionals, doctors and lawyers, and have a foundation to converse with everybody,” said Seymour.
He has worked as the vice president of ARCC for the last eight years. Seymour said that now there isn’t a second that he is not thinking of the institution. He stated that after being involved with the college for as long as he has, his career became bigger then himself.
Seymour said that ARCC helped him to mature as a person, stating that he has grown much more patient since he took on the role of vice president, but admits that if he had been asked 12 years ago, he would never have imagined himself sitting in the vice president’s chair.
Seymour said that he has been part of many changes he has been a part of at ARCC over the last 12 years. He admits that nothing is really done by one person. He said “a lot of people contribute to the success of ARCC. I would never say, so and so works for me, but that they work with me.”
Seymour said that he feels the biggest impact he has had on ARCC is what he calls the coming together of the Coon Rapids and Cambridge campuses over the last decade. He stated that when he came on as the vice president, the campuses were like two separate entities, and now the relationship in regard to business alignment as well as student services is better than ever.
He accredited the faculty and students for helping to make the institution what it is today, acknowledging that every new day presents new obstacles that challenges the established perimeters, obstacles that he and the faculty have to find solutions to in order to keep the “highly regarded” reputation ARCC has earned over the years strong.
Seymour said that after time “It seems easy. People just look around and they see that thing are not that bad. We have facilities, nice technology, nice do-able workloads, and all those other things that make for a nice place to work. Safe environment, civil people, doesn't just happen. It takes leadership from the president down or the students up."
Seymour moved to Minnesota because of a job offer, he started working as a technology professor at a small university located in Austin, Minn. Seymour said that the market was too small for his career in Austin, which is how he ended up at ARCC, where he started his path towards vice presidency.
Seymour worked as what he calls “one of the first technology directors of the school.” He described that as a technology instructor he usually thought in a mathematical business-like manner, which he says is the sort of thinking he is required to use as the Vice President as well.
Seymour was born in Milwaukee, Wis. 1964, but he was raised in Sheboygan, Wis. for the first half of his childhood with his little brother Mando, and his parents Eufemia and Jerry Seymour. . He explained that his mother was full blooded Latino.
Seymour attended Ferris State University and earned his associate and bachelor in television production, and also earned his master’s in teaching there, as well. After attending Ferris State, Seymour initially worked making and editing training videos out for the corporate offices of General Motors. He admitted that it was a dull, unfulfilling job and decided to pursue a more technological career. Seymour said that he had learned a lot in the way of computer functionality due to the ever changing technological advancements in the television production field.
Seymour is now living with his wife Karla, and their two children, Tori, 15 and Tyler, 11 along with their dog Murphy Macray in Andover, Minn. Seymour stated that besides hunting with Murphy, he mostly enjoys spending time watching his children participate in their own distinct activities. However, he stated that he is happy to take advantage of all the time he can get with his family; he admitted that the hardest part of being the vice president of ARCC is finding a balance between the college and his family.
By Angelina Geinosky
Mary Ann Larios is helping students to find their career paths everyday as a career counselor at Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC); ironically she didn’t always know that this is what she would one day be.
Larios actually changed her career path several different times in her life before she discovered her calling as a community college counselor. After graduating from high school, Larios attended Macalester College in St. Paul Minn., initially majoring in vocal performance. However after her freshman year she said that she decided to change her major and transferred to Saint Benedict Saint John University where she pursued a career in interior design.
After graduating from St. Benedict in 1982, Larios decided it was time to “go out and see what was out there.” She moved to Colorado Springs, Colo. and lived with her older sister. However, due to the struggling economy at the time Larios was decided to move to Phoenix, Ariz. where she had heard there were jobs available in the interior design field.
Larios worked as an interior designer and enjoyed it for about six years. During her mid-20’s however, she started working as a volunteer with soon-to-be moms and realized that counseling was what she calls her real passion. “I found I was getting so much more reward and satisfaction from this volunteer work then I was when I was an interior designer,” Larios admitted. Larios decided to go back to school and received her masters in counseling from Arizona State University and later went on to gain her doctorate in human services from Walden University .
At first Larios was intrigued by junior high and high school counseling, but after a couple of informational interviews, she said she could sense that these schools were not for her. It was a friend of her husband’s who introduced her to community college counseling and after a couple more informational interviews she knew that this was the job she was meant to do. “Typically people in a community college are in the realm of wanting to improve their life through education, and it’s really exciting to be a part of that,” she said.
She admits that even though she loves working at ARCC, her job can be hard sometimes because she doesn’t always know the outcome of the students she has helped. “I might have some students come talk to me about a personal issue, or their career or whatever it is, and that might be the end of it. But I don’t know how their life progressed, and I think when your in a community college setting that’s typically the case,” Larios said.
Now after what Larios calls “a long journey,” she is happy to say that she has found a perfect match for her life. What she says she loves most about her job is the diversity of her workload. She says that her work excites her because she is not always doing the same thing over and over again.
Along with counseling Larios also takes part in many different mental development workshops at the school, in addition to teaching an online career development course. Larios said that she really enjoys the educational environment of ARCC, saying that she is confident in knowing that her work associates are always supportive of her and her different ideas.
For Larios, she says, it is both the faculty and students at ARCC that makes coming to work everyday a treat. She is admits being overwhelmed by her colleges’ fantastic work ethic as well as the willingness of students at ARCC to succeed. She says she loves knowing that she can make a difference in their lives and thrives on it, stating “I wouldn’t call it helping people, because people help themselves, but I enjoy being on that journey with them. To me, it’s very exciting."