Carol: "Students of Non-typical Age"

(Bobbi Finch working in class)

On any given day at Linn-Benton Community College you will see students of non-typical age, doing their best to make their dreams come true. Bobbi Finch is one of them. She said, one of her biggest challenges she has had in coming back to school is, not knowing where she fits in.

There are a lot of older students here at LBCC that feel like they’re not sure where they socially fit in. After all, the whole school scene is typically geared for the younger generation, not for people in their later years. Bobbi Finch, 50- years old, has had some real challenges in her returning to school, after so many years of being out of school.

Bobbi Finch has travailed all over the world, being married to a U.S. Marine Corps soldier. She and her ex-husband had 5 children. They moved a lot due to being stationed somewhere new every 23 months.

Finch has now lived in Oregon 17-years, where she has finished raising her children as a single mom. She has been trying to earn her degree since 1998. This in itself has been a challenge, due to being a sole provider for her kids. She said that she has had to interrupt her schooling many times over the years to work and take care of the needs of her children.

Now that all of her kids are adults, even her baby, Nick, who is 18-years old, she no longer feels like she has to be responsible for their needs. Finch said, “All I have to worry about is me, it’s my time to finish college and get my English degree, I want to be a travel reporter.”

Nick said, “I’m proud of her, I’m glad she still has the will to go back and finish what she started so many years ago. My mom is a strong woman.”

She started college again, as of fall term this school year 2014-2015, after checking with LBCC, she knew she only had four classes left to take to earn her English degree. She thought this would be an EASY TRANSITION, knowing she had been here before.

Finch, has encountered some situations that weren’t very comfortable for her. Finch said, “The attitude of the younger generations is so rude. I have been told things like, if you don’t get your homework done, you’re on your own. Their attitude is, if you can’t keep up with us, then why are you here?”

“When it comes to the younger generation, there is a big world of difference between us and them, it’s a sad one, because it’s a ME, ME, ME, from them, instead of we have to help each other.” Finch said.

When talking to Vikki Maurer, a math instructor who has worked at LBCC for 21-years, about the generation problems she has seen, Maurer said, “I have seen it from both sides, the rudeness. What I see more now with all the social media with the younger people so plugged in, they tend to isolate their selves, because they connect with their phones better than anything else. Inner personal communication is hard for them, where just a few years ago it wasn't that way.”

Nick said,” I think what is going on, is that the younger generation thinks that the older generation doesn't want to have anything to do with them, because they think that they couldn't have anything in common with them. So it’s just no one talking to no one, and that’s the problem.”

“We had high school students mixing with the older students, and I never saw the kind of problems I’m seeing now, the rudeness, but from both sides. So from Bobbi’s point of view, she has had some interactions that weren't favorable, but I see it both ways. The younger generation, they just need somebody to reach out, because they are uncomfortable now making those connections in person, we can learn so much from each other.” Maurer said.

Maurer has Finch in her Math 98 class this term; she says Bobbie is a bright student, always thinking and asking questions, always working very hard. She is a very caring person.

When talking to Finch about these opinions, she said, “I really never thought about it that way, maybe that’s what is going on.”

Finch’s dream is to become a travelling reporter. She wants to travel around to places no one has written about, and use her first times eyes, see things that people never knew were there. Like some small town that no one would have ever known hosts a rodeo every year.

No matter what, she is going to make it through her last four classes and get her degree. You will see her walking down that aisle this June and receive her future.