college experiences

[Guest guest]

Heidi,

You asked about college experiences. I went to college and received a

BA degree with a double major in Art & Art History. I worked

weekends, school breaks and summers in between in retail stores.

After college I went on to complete my MA degree in Art History. I

continued to work in retail weekends and summers, then did 2

internships, one in gallery installation/design, the other in co-

curating a special exhibition. Following that I began my " adult " work

career in museums. Then in 1990 I thought I needed a PhD (don't know

what for!) So I found a great program in Mythology, applied and was

accepted. Completed all the coursework, plus special projects, just

never completed the dissertation as I was the sole caregiver to Mom

during her end stage pancreatic cancer.

Somewhere along the line, after a couple of museum positions, where I

had the opportunity to do fundraising for special art exhibits, I

discovered I was good at fundraising (it seemed easy to me!) so that

propelled me into fundraising, development and public relations

positions with non-profit organizations throughout the country.

That's just a brief bio - lol - complete resume on request - lol

With my interest in advocacy for the disabled, in 1998 or so I

considered law school, did alot of work in finding programs, took the

entrance test, etc. There was one really terrific program at U of Cal

at Berkley which was exactly what I was looking for - it was only a 2

year program, wasn't offering the JD law degree but something else.

But very expensive. I didn't want to take out a loan for this and I

came to my senses and realized it doesn't take a law degree to do

advocacy.

I thoroughly enjoyed all my college/university experiences; cool

professors, interesting and challenging coursework, other

people/students, roomates, discussions, yes, even papers and tests

and loved the parties:-)

LOL but in college for the BA I never signed up for the 1 credit

required PE class (because I thought it was bs)

Nonetheless, the Dean and Registrar said no PE, no diploma. I wasn't

able to be on the volleyball team or other activity, so we all met

with the Head Coach and agreed I would write a paper on bike riding

(since I had spent 4 years biking around campus).

What a dream come true - so no PE class needed, wrote the paper,

Coach gave me an " A " on it and I fulfilled the graduation

requirement. What a riot, I actually have an " A " in PE on my

transcript to this day. lol

~ Gretchen