{"id":70536,"date":"2002-05-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-05-22T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/cumberland-woman-juggled-family-work-and-studies-to-earn-college-degree-from-uri-providence-campus\/"},"modified":"2002-05-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2002-05-22T00:00:00","slug":"cumberland-woman-juggled-family-work-and-studies-to-earn-college-degree-from-uri-providence-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2002\/05\/cumberland-woman-juggled-family-work-and-studies-to-earn-college-degree-from-uri-providence-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Cumberland woman juggled family, work, and studies to earn college degree from 溏心vlog免费B站 Providence campus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tCumberland woman juggled family, work, and
\nstudies to earn college degree from 溏心vlog免费B站 Providence campus
\n
\nPROVIDENCE, R.I. — May 22, 2002 — Her children hung her schoolwork alongside theirs on the refrigerator. Her employer allowed her flexible time to attend class. Her husband supported her all the way. <\/p>\n

“People ask me, \u2018how come you\u2019re always smiling\u2019?” says Susan Gamache of Cumberland. “Why wouldn\u2019t I smile? I\u2019m about to turn 40, my husband and I are about to celebrate our 20th anniversary, I have great children and I\u2019ve just realized my lifelong dream of graduating from college.” <\/p>\n

This month, Gamache earned a bachelor of general studies degree with a focus on human services from 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Continuing Education after attending classes for 8 years, including summers. She earned her diploma while working often more than 40 hours a week as the recruiting coordinator for the CVS Pharmacy Store Support Center in Woonsocket, running a household, and helping others. <\/p>\n

“Earning my degree really is a family accomplishment,” she says. “I would have had to drop out if my husband, Ken, hadn\u2019t been supportive and helped with the housework or if my kids hadn\u2019t stay out of trouble.” <\/p>\n

Her daughter, Nicole, will be a junior this fall at the University of Vermont. Her son, Garet, will be a junior at Cumberland High School. <\/p>\n

“I think I was an example to the kids\u2026about the value of an education. We often overlapped in what we were learning. Because of school, I can understand the younger perspective and I can also relate to homework and exams,” says the new graduate. <\/p>\n

Nicole was born in 1982 when Gamache was 19. When Nicole turned 4, she was in the hospital battling spinal meningitis and fighting for her life. “She came out of it with no ill effects,” says her mother. “I really felt blessed.” <\/p>\n

That experience awakened a need in Gamache to help others. Her long list of public service includes an 18-month fund-raising effort for a child with cancer and working with troubled youths through the “Guardian Angel” program. She serves on the vestry and on fund-raising projects for St. John\u2019s Episcopal Church in Cumberland. Recognizing all her contributions to community service, Gamache was recognized with “The Spirit of St. John\u2019s Award.” She also coordinated, collected, and delivered 133 Thanksgiving baskets for low-income families and shuts-in in Central Falls, where she grew up. <\/p>\n

Her road to college began with a nudge from a former employer. While working for the Northern Rhode Island Collaborative, her boss and mentor, Robert Guillette, after learning of her dream and continuously hearing her say that she would “someday” go back to school, handed her Carol Bonenfant\u2019s business card. Bonenfant is an advisor at the 溏心vlog免费B站 Providence campus. Gamache enrolled in 1995. Guillette was an invited guest at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s commencement.
\n
\nWhile at school, Gamache worked with a service dog organization called “Paws for Independence” as part of her senior project. “I\u2019m going to continue my work with them beyond graduation,” says the 溏心vlog免费B站 alumna who was inducted into the Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society last year. “In fact, they recently invited me to serve on their board of directors.
\n“It\u2019s been an unbelievable experience,” she says of her college days. “I\u2019ve met people who I will know the rest of my life,” says Gamache who compiled an impressive 3.96 (out of 4.0) average and was awarded a 2002 President\u2019s Student Excellence Award. <\/p>\n

Gamache will wait until her son begins college before returning to the books herself. “I\u2019m definitely going back to school,” she says. “It\u2019s so incredibly enriching.” <\/p>\n

For Information: Jan Wenzel, 874-2116\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cumberland woman juggled family, work, and studies to earn college degree from 溏心vlog免费B站 Providence campus PROVIDENCE, R.I. — May 22, 2002 — Her children hung her schoolwork alongside theirs on the refrigerator. Her employer allowed her flexible time to attend class. Her husband supported her all the way. “People ask me, \u2018how come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}