A winding means to an end

I’ll never forget my first interview with Barbara Murphy, the former president of the former Johnson State College.

I sat down with her and she said, “I’ve heard all about you!”

Huh?

My story preceded me, I suppose. In the second semester of my junior year, I entered Johnson, now Northern Vermont University-Johnson, transferring from St. Michael’s College.

Don’t get me wrong – the private school education was a good one, I loved my courses and did very well. But as a shy introvert from Bakersfield, I was more than a little out of my element.

Murphy and I had many more talks for Basement Medicine after that initial visit, and I enjoyed them all.

Between watching performances at Dibden growing up and taking the familiar – gorgeous – drive to campus, somehow JSC was always more comfortable.

And I guess the feeling was mutual: In 2015 I joined the ranks of recipients for the Rising Star Alumni Award.

That was cool.

I acknowledge that it sounds like a strange path, but for indecisive me the two-school method proved perfect. I learned how to navigate what was then called the “new media” world and took a deep dive into the humanities at St. Mike’s. At Johnson, I wrote. A lot. Like, a ton.

Throughout my college career, I wrote for a small local newspaper, too – on-the-job training that paralleled textbooks.

Now, I’m the managing editor for three community newspapers that serve more than 20,000 readers each week.

Sometimes things work out.

Without Johnson I would have stayed at St. Michael’s. I would have continued to do well. I would have graduated. But I don’t know that I would have felt complete.

And as a Franklin County kid, without Johnson I wouldn’t have had a “hometown” school. Hometown in rural terms is a drive less than half an hour, in case you didn’t know.

To hear about an uncertain future for my school breaks my heart. Where will the shy, weird, Vermont-loving Bakersfield kids go? What other school will let you get your hands dirty, raking muck like the “real world” journalists?

Who other than Tyrone Shaw will let students do one-on-one courses so they can graduate because they are stubborn and high-strung and refuse to take longer than four years to be done just because they transferred? I still don’t love Tom Wolfe’s writing… but I still have his book.

In my experience, JSC got it. The people shaping my future understood that, yes, I needed a strong education, but also that I needed a job. I left with the skills and work ethic to get to where I am today.

I’m not the only Johnson grad, either. My sister, who is way smarter than me and got better grades, is now paying it forward as a teacher.

Much like my education, my career path took the scenic route for a little bit, but I have always done everything with intention – and now I have my dream job.

I’ve always preferred books to sports balls (that’s what they’re called, right?) but I’ll say it now – go Badgers.

Jessie Forand is the managing editor of the five weekly Vermont Community Newspaper Group publications.