"Once I Started School, I Was Hooked."

Guest Columnist:

Leimone Lingemann Waite graduated from College of the Siskiyous in 1991. She completed her Bachelor of Science Degree, in Agriculture, from the University of California at Davis, in June 1993, and received two Single Subject Specialist Credentials in Agriculture, June, 1994. In June, 1999, she will receive a Masters Degree in General Agriculture, with an emphasis in Horticulture, from California Polytechnic State University (Cal-Poly). In this news column Mrs. Waite shares with others how students who are home schooled, living in remote rural communities, can plan for their futures and complete their education.

As I grew up, I was home schooled. It was through actual hands-on work that I learned all my school lessons as we were doing work in the home and on ranch related projects. For example, I learned math while we were putting in a fence. We had to figure out how many posts, wire, clips and staples would be needed before we put up the fence. Until I came to COS, I had never been inside a regular classroom.

I was raised on a Beefalo ranch 12 miles outside of Hyampom, California. Hyampom is a very remote town in Trinity County 30 miles from Hayfork, California. Beefalo are a cross between a cow and an American Bison. We lived 12 miles out of town on a ranch surrounded by National Forest land. We did not have a television and only received two AM radio stations, KGO talk radio and KRAK, a country station. My parents moved to Hyampom to get out of the city and away from people who were hassling them about home schooling their children.

Our nearest neighbor lived five miles away from my home. During the winter months, it was not unusual for my family to be snowed in for a month at a time. My parents, two brothers, and my sister and I, lived in a two-room cabin. When we were snowed in, we often spent our time reading aloud to one another. This is how we were taught history and English.

Before I decided to start to go to college, I was working as a mule packer in the Marble Mountains and could not take time during the day to attend classes. I was also very shy. As you can imagine, when I decided to enroll at College of the Siskiyous, and in a speech class, it terrified me. But, I was determined to go to college and learn to speak in front of groups of people.

As I said, I had never actually been in a formal classroom. My first class continues to stand out in my mind. Of all things, it was an evening speech class, with Dr. Don Stensaas. The first time I walked into his class, I was not sure if I could seat myself or if I had to wait for him to assign me a seat.

I also had to change jobs while attending COS. I found a ranch in Montague and was able to work for my room and board. Once I started school I was hooked! The COS instructors were friendly, very encouraging and stimulating. It was instructors such as Eve Thompson and Debbie Ryan who inspired me to want to continue my education and to become a teacher. My grades were very good and I became a charter member of the College’s National Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) and was nominated by Eve Thompson to the USA Today All-American Academic Team. Eve and I flew to Chicago to the National PTK Convention and also attended a luncheon in honor of the nominees.

I cannot recommend highly enough that every student who is starting to college first attend a community college such as COS because of the amount of individual attention and support given to all students by the instructors. It is for sure that students don’t receive that same level of attention when they are attending a large college or university. I would never have continued going to college if I had first attended a large school. I also changed my major five times, and it was much cheaper to do so at COS than it would ever have been at UC, Davis.

While at COS, I also worked in the Financial Aid Office and in the theatre. I was very active in PTK and the Intercultural Club and tried to start a campus-wide recycling program. I also helped to develop recruitment videotape, which the College used as a recruitment tool for a number of years.

Upon graduating from COS, I transferred to the University of California, at Davis, where I won several scholarships - an agriculture major scholarship and two additional scholarships for agriculture education majors. I also applied for a number of state and federal grants, such as the Pell and Cal Grants, which helped me to put myself through college. In 1994 I graduated from Davis with a teaching credential in agriculture and moved to Wasco, California, where I taught for three years at Wasco High School. It was in Wasco that I met and married my husband, Tod.

This past fall, I applied for and received an instructor’s position at Shasta College and we moved back to Redding, California. Since then, we have been blessed with the birth of our daughter, Jenna, and the purchase of a new home. I will receive my Masters degree in General Agriculture with an emphasis in Horticulture in June, 1999.

It has been both exciting and often hard work to complete all the goals and plans I laid out for myself as a young woman. Would I do it again? Yes!

In retrospect, I fondly remember College of the Siskiyous and the wonderful faculty and staff who embraced me when I came to the College to prepare for my future.