Student Highlights

Meet our COPC Graduate Students!

Jess Brophy is a doctoral student in UMaine’s Department of Communication and Journalism. Originally from Deer Isle, Maine, she earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.  Undoubtedly, Jessica has found her passion in this field, “I love studying communication because it impacts every part of our lives from interpersonal relationships to media coverage of world events.” 

Since last fall Jessica has been instilling the same sense of enthusiasm in Bangor’s youth.  “Working with high school students to create a newsletter has been challenging, but also very rewarding.  My main goal has not been to tell them what stories to write, but to subtly share that same sense of excitement about journalism and to hopefully have them become more engaged in the world around us.”  Jessica will graduate in 2009 and plans to be a professor so that she may continue to inspire more budding journalists.  

Since last July Arizona-native Anna Mortensen has been getting acquainted to Maine as she pursues a master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at UMaine. “It has been a very big change adjusting to small towns and cold weather, however, I am really enjoying both.”  Anna’s undergraduate work at Arizona State University focused on speech and hearing science coupled with studies of therapeutic recreation.  After her graduate work is completed in 2008, she plans to pursue her doctorate, “I am especially passionate about advocating for the aging population within the field of Speech-Language Pathology, a career that is often so focused on working with children.  I plan to become a university professor so that I can research some of the aging related diseases (strokes, dementia) that have such an impact on communication.” 

For Anna, the UMaine-Bangor COPC project has been another new learning experience as she gains more exposure about housing issues concerning the elderly and disadvantaged populations.  “My work at the Center on Aging has really been a great way for me to become involved in the city and meet people who are doing such great work in all areas of the community.”

Andy Hurtt graduated this spring with a master’s degree in New Media and Art.  Although Andy taught undergraduate classes throughout his program, it has been his exposure to “The CYBER Project” (Connecting Youth to Bangor and Electronic Resources) that has provided him with some of his most valuable graduate school experiences.  Meeting new people, witnessing the inner workings of a grant, and teaching transitional youth at Shaw House have all been great learning experiences.  “Being flexible and changing plans on the fly was one of the biggest challenges. 

Teaching can be difficult enough, but it’s especially hard to capture the attention of youth whose interests can change from one second to the next.  You have to be able to think on your feet and come up with something new if what you are doing is not working.”  

This fall Andy will begin a doctoral program at UMaine.  Having studied at Rockland Community College in New York and at Montclair State University in New Jersey , Andy has found the right fit, “I love the University and knew that I wanted to work with Owen Smith (Director of New Media), but I would also like to stay in Maine afterward.”    

For Scott Clement, “The CYBER Project” seems tailor-made.  Scott earned a degree in Political Science in 2002 from Bates College and, for a short time afterward, tried his hand as a policeman.  It was not long before Scott realized that law enforcement wasn’t for him.  “I liked the concept of community policing and the proactive approach that it takes but in the environment I was in, law enforcement was still a very reactionary profession.  You were always talking to people who did not want to talk to you.  I knew then, that it was probably time to switch careers.” 

Scott is working toward a master’s degree in counselor education.  He eventually plans to be a school guidance counselor.  “I like connecting with people and I’d like to think that I also have a keen ability to identify people’s interests.  The key is to help kids discover what motivates them.”  Scott applies the same philosophy to his work with Project Life.  “Not a lot of attention is given to this population and too often the focus is on college.  I think that you can get them turned onto higher education by finding out their interests, showing them the skills they need, and then making that link between college and career.”