September 19, 2006 - 5:00pm
An unexpected global adventure in learning started with first-year English courses at Malaspina University-College’s Parksville-Qualicum Centre.
"Going to university was something that I had always planned to do during my life," said Parksville businesswoman Ann Buchanan. But, like many women, she was sidetracked by family and work and establishing her business, Parksville Insurance Services Ltd.
By then, she said, "I thought I had become too old to go back to school."
It was a Wise Women Panel presented by the Parksville/Qualicum Womens’ Business Network that nudged Buchanan into the classroom. On the panel were three women who had successfully returned to school at age 50 or older.
Inspired, Buchanan enrolled in a university night class at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre. "I started taking Malaspina courses in Parksville because they were close to home."
She never expected the experience to blossom into a passion for learning, taking her on study trips to England, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic, and toward a Master’s degree.
Taking English courses at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre expanded her reading and honed her research and writing skills. Seeking additional enrichment, she enrolled in a 2001 study trip to England offered by Malaspina’s Liberal Studies department.
"I had family in England. I thought it was a good way to combine family visits with a guided tour," she recalled. "What I received was an exceptional education on the various ways I could express myself.
"I learned how to sketch at the same time I learned about the architecture of the cathedrals. I wrote a short story that was inspired by Virginia Wolfe. But, most of all, I learned how to express my own ideas in a comfortable intellectual setting."
After the tour, she began taking Liberal Studies courses at Malaspina’s Nanaimo campus. She also joined three additional study tours, one to Italy, one to the Czech Republic and one to Greece. A fellow student on the Greek study tour was ElderCollege instructor Billi Nicol of Parksville. Nicol had been a speaker on the Wise Women Panel that inspired Buchanan’s return to school.
Although she had never planned to pursue a degree, the credits mounted. In June 2005, Buchanan received her Bachelor of Arts, major in Liberal Studies degree from Malaspina University-College. Ten days later she began studying for her Master’s degree at St. John’s College in New Mexico.
"I couldn’t allow the learning to stop," she said. "Malaspina’s Liberal Studies program opened my eyes to how much more there was in the world to see. I had been to England, Italy, Greece and the Czech Republic with them and I was hooked."
St. John’s College offers a condensed summer program that allows part-time students to complete a Master’s degree in four years by attending the college for two months each summer. Once she completes her Master’s degree in 2008, Buchanan is considering pursuing a doctorate in Philosophy.
"I did not start this journey with these degrees in mind – I was interested in learning in a structured format so that I would be forced to do something other than my small business," she said.
"I also did not expect it to translate into financial success – but it has," she added. "Every day I am aware of using the confidence I gained and the communication skills that I have honed."
Tags: In the Community
