At MCLA, ‘non-trads’ find a way to succeed

By Andrea SalisburyPrint Story | Email Story
Sue Barnes
NORTH ADAMS — Juggling work, family and school, the “non-traditional” students of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts make up a significant percentage of the student body. Some have transferred from Berkshire Community College, others only take a few classes to gain background in a certain field, and then there are the single parents who go back to college a second time to make a future for their children. Whatever their ages and backgrounds, they play a crucial role in the classroom and on campus, college officials agree. There are 334 non-traditional students on the MCLA campus between the ages of 25 and 70, according to Director of Institutional Research Joseph DeOrdio. One hundred and twenty three of those students are enrolled fulltime – earning 12 credits or more per semester. DeOrdio said non-traditional students make up about 9 percent of the full-time student population. Only six of the non-trad students live on campus, leaving the rest to commute from distances as far as Great Barrington and as close as Adams and North Adams. DeOrdio remarked that a majority of the non-traditional students have come back to college to further their career opportunities within the companies they already work for. Susan Barnes of Lanesboro is one of them. She transferred to MCLA in 2002 from Berkshire Community College. As a single parent, she is raising two daughters, Samantha White, 14, and Sandra White, 10. Barnes entered the workforce after high school, when she was offered a full-time job at General Electric Co. in Pittsfield, in the union relations department. “I started college in September but was then offered a job beginning at the end of that month,” Barnes said. “Nineteen eighty-five was when I graduated high school, but it was also the year that GE started their big layoffs. By December, half of the company got their pink slips, including me.” She found a job at Barnes and Kiley Water Conditioning in Lanesboro, where she has been working the past 14 years. According to Barnes, six years ago, her boss encouraged her to attend the single-parent program offered through BCC. The college was offering free tuition to single parents if they went through that particular program. “I was there for two years studying business, and then I just started taking English classes,” Barnes said. “I had Professor William Corby, and he was very influential in me ending up in English education.” After transferring to MCLA, Barnes has worked toward her bachelor’s degree in English with a certification in elementary education. She hopes to get a job at Lanesboro Elementary School. Barnes said she has found a balance between school and family by only attending classes on Monday and Wednesday. After making sure her children are at school and working, she drives to MCLA to take four classes, back to back, from 1 to 6 p.m. She said the support her oldest daughter, Samantha, has given to her has made attending college easier. “I give credit to my 14-year-old, Samantha, because she helps with my 10-year-old, Sandra, with her homework and cooking dinner. So when I get home at 6:30, they have already had dinner,” Barnes said. “I can spend time with the younger one before she has to go to bed at 8, and then I spend time with the older one from 8 to 9. At 9, I start my homework.” Every Monday and Wednesday, Barnes calls her daughters at the same time from campus to find out how their day has been. On non-school days, she finds time for “the family thing.” She helps with homework and cooks dinner. Her ex-husband spends time with the children on Wednesdays and Sundays. “Sunday for me is when I do the housecleaning, laundry and my homework,” Barnes said. “That is when I do the stuff that most people do during the week.” Andrea Peters of North Adams does not have a full-time job. She said her children’s future is her main concern. She is a single parent with three children, Damien, 13, Tony, 7, and Haley, 4. “My kids think that what I am doing is great. But they are waiting to see the end result. It is a lot of sacrifices. I have a boy who is 13, and when he asks for $5, sometimes I can’t give it to him,” Peters said. “The sacrifices have been in the extras. I think I have been a good influence for them, too. Education is one of the most important things. I know my kids are proud. My kids dream big. I hope they get to meet all of those dreams.” Peters will graduate in May and has been studying sociology. Like other students who are parents, she said she often finds herself torn between time between family and classes. “It is hard. I have a whole other life outside to keep up with. I have to balance two different worlds,” she said. “I do my homework when the kids are in bed. I sleep very little during the school year. It is the only way. My youngest child is 4 years old. I can’t do homework when she is around.” Financially, it is a challenge for Peters to attend college. She said she does not work because she broke her ankle and was laid off. “When I get out, I am going to owe my life away. I am maxed out on financial aid. But I take each day at a time,” she said. “I do class work and projects in chunks. Sometimes I fall behind, but I have to keep going.” Michele Toolan of North Adams started college in the spring of 2000. Recently divorced, Toolan decided she wanted to become independent. “I realized that I depended on men to support me,” she said. In October 2001, she gave birth to her daughter, Jacqueline Rose, which complicated her decision to continue with her education. Toolan said she would not stop her education just because she had a baby to care for, however. “I am making enough to get by, and I understand the importance here. For so long I lived on peanut butter and jelly to realize that this is how I am going to get things done.” Toolan said she has no idea how she got this far at college. “I guess it is because I have no life,” she said. “I would not do the kid and college thing all over again. But now, there is nothing that can stop me. I am doing it to make her life better.” As a single mother who has refused the assistance of day care, she brings Jacqueline to class with her. Jacqueline’s presence in the classroom has caused mixed reactions from students and professors. “Until she was 6 months, I regularly brought her to class. I was so exhausted,” Toolan said. “It was all so unbelievably exhausting and frustrating.” The impact Jacqueline had on the class varied. “Students talked a lot about her being a problem, and halfway through the semester in the science and technology class taught by Professor Michael Ganger, he asked me not to bring her anymore because of student complaints.” On the other hand, history Professor Daniel Connerton welcomed Jacqueline into his class. He said he saw her “as a history project.” “I knew Michele when she was pregnant, and then the baby was in my class,” he said. “It could have been a problem, and I told Michele this could be a problem. But she agreed that she would just take the baby out [if she were causing problems].” Toolan said her worst experience was that students had a negative view of her. “It was bad enough that it was in the middle of winter and I had to lug a baby across campus. I would get in and sit down and I was looked at like a leper,” she said. “She [Jacqueline] would sleep in the carriage. When she wouldn’t, I would take her and pace up and down the hallway. We both cried a lot.” According to Toolan the most positive experience was Connerton’s class because he was so good with Jacqueline. Connerton said having a baby in the class was not a distraction because he learned to involve her in the lectures. “We had a lot of discussion, and I could incorporate the baby into the class. It was in a small room, and the baby would just sit there and look at me and I would talk to her,” he said. “Teaching is like theater: You’ve got to be a showman to keep people awake. She reacted to me. When I would raise my voice to laugh, she would laugh. It got to be disappointing when she was not there. People were like ‘where is the baby?’” Now that Jacqueline is 2, Toolan said it has become easier for her to leave her with a babysitter or her grandmother, who lives in Lenox. Yet, there are still occasions that something happens and Jacqueline has to go to class with Toolan. “I am always late. I have never been on time since the day I got pregnant,” Toolan said. “I am mostly late because I don’t want to separate from Jacqueline. But it is more trying to bring her to class.” Like Toolan, Peters has brought her children to class when the occasion called for it. “I brought my boys with me when they were 5 or 6,” she said. “The professors were very receptive and did not mind having them there. But, I did experience some comments from students, like ‘This is not a daycare center.’ But again, this changes. In the last few years, students have said, ‘Your kids are so good.’ It gives me a good feeling.” Her oldest son attended an astronomy class one semester with Peters and interacted with the other students in a positive way, she said. “We had to go out and look at the moon, and one student asked why you could only see part of the moon. My son answered the question for the professor. I think it is a really good experience for my children,” Peters said. Many professors have found themselves in the same situation as their students. Connerton and psychology Professor Maria Bartini have both brought their children to class at some point. “There was a time when I brought my own children to class with me, when there was a week break from classes for them. I told them to sit in the back and draw and be quiet,” Connerton said. “There was one class that I was teaching on Islam, and I was describing the prayer rugs. I drew columns on the board and later on, my daughter had shown me what she drew and it was the prayer rug.” Bartini has a son who is almost 4. He has attended classes with her more recently. “I am in the same boat as most of them (non-trads). I am a working mother. And if my son gets sick or the daycare closes, sometimes you have to make other arrangements. One of those arrangements is bringing my son to class,” she said. Bartini acknowledged there is added stress in the classroom when a child is present, but she said the stress falls mostly on the parent. “The parent is concerned with the child being good,” she said. “I think out of all the kids that I have had in class, mine has been the worst. Non-trads have had enough to juggle with family work and school. I don’t want to add an additional stress. They are under enough challenges with going to college. I don’t want to be another.” With the absence of on-campus daycare, Connerton said the college should be able to support students who bring their children to class. “If we say we are a small intuition with small classes where the faculty and students know each other, then we have to know how to handle their problems on a person-by-person basis,” he said, “It will make it easier for them to attend school. For a short-term situation, we should be able to handle it.” As a non-traditional student, Toolan said she and others like her have an appreciation of the education they are receiving. “We understand why we are here and what it means to work for a degree,” she said. “It is all about family. It is all about their future.” Andrea Salisbury has just completed an internship with The Advocate and plans to go to graduate school.
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Dalton Announces New Supplier for Energy Program

DALTON, Mass. – The Town of Dalton has signed a thirty-four month contract with a new supplier, First Point Power.
 
Beginning with the January 2026 meter reads, the Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program will have a new rate of $0.13042 per kWh. The Program will also continue to offer an optional 100 percent green product, which is derived from National Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), at a rate of $0.13142 per kWh.
 
For Dalton residents and businesses who are enrolled in the Town's Program, the current rate of $0.13849 per kWh will expire with the January 2026 meter reads and the new rate of $0.13042 per kWh will take effect. This represents a decrease of $5 per month on the supply side of the bill given average usage of 600 kWh. Additionally, this new rate is 3 percent lower than Eversource's Residential Basic Service rate of $0.13493 per kWh. Residents can expect to see an
average savings of $3 per month for the month of January 2026. Eversource's Basic Service rates
will change on Feb. 1, 2026.
 
Dalton launched its electricity program in January 2015 in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable and affordable. From inception through June 2025, the Program has saved residents and small businesses over $1.7 million in electricity costs as compared to Eversource Basic Service.
 
It is important to note that no action is required by current participants. This change will be seen on the February 2026 bills. All accounts currently enrolled in the Program will remain with their current product offering and see the new rate and First Point Power printed under the "Supplier Services" section of their monthly bill.
 
The Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program has no fees or charges. However, anyone switching from a contract with a third-party supplier may be subject to penalties or early termination fees charged by that supplier. Ratepayers should verify terms before switching.
 
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