Chris Banyas
Staff Writer
The number of undergraduate students registered for the fall 2012 semester at Idaho State University was 12,820. Of these, 5,407 were over the age of 24, meaning 42 percent of all undergraduate students for the semester were nontraditional students.
According to the Office of Institutional Research at ISU, nontraditional students are typically defined as undergraduate students over the age of 24.
Two of these students, Loretta Zuber and Kale Bergeson, represent only a small portion of the experiences these nontraditional students have gained while in attendance at ISU.
Originally from Philadelphia, Zuber moved to Pocatello in 1988 with her husband so he could pursue a career with AMI, now ON Semiconductor.
Zuber began taking classes and enrolled in the office occupations program at ISU.
Following her training with the office occupations program, Zuber began work at the Eli M. Oboler Library in 1991.
Zuber originally pursued a certificate in Elementary Education but quickly changed to a degree in English Literature. She is now a senior and very close to graduating.
“I didn’t want to take time off to do a student teaching assignment,” explained Zuber. “Part of what I wanted to do in elementary [education] was be a reading adviser or a reading specialist. That was my ultimate goal. So I decided, ‘well I can’t do that.’ My focus was always reading and literature anyways so I just decided to change and go for the English degree.”
Zuber expressed that she would call the large population of nontraditional students at ISU “a plus” and said it helped her feel more comfortable coming back to school.
Bergeson, originally from St. Anthony, Idaho, served in the United States Marine Corps from 1987 to 1992.
Bergeson went home to St. Anthony for about six months before moving to Utah to work for a couple of years.
He came back to Idaho when he got a job in Rexburg where he worked for 16 years before returning to school at ISU, where his mother was an alumna and his sister was attending at the time.
His sister recommended the college because of its nontraditional student population and the quality of the teachers.
“I wouldn’t have stayed in school if it hadn’t been for the Veteran’s Sanctuary and the Armed Forces Veteran’s Club,” said Bergeson. “I was 40 years old when I started. About two weeks into the semester I didn’t think I could do it. They provided me with resources and the support that I needed. I had a math and English tutor by the end of the week. The club members gave me the camaraderie and stuff that veterans need and said you can do this and this is how we’re going to help you.”
Bergeson described the resources for a veteran at ISU as outstanding but feels there is always room for improvement and awareness of programs such as the Veteran’s Sanctuary, the Student Success Center, ADA and new student orientation.
Bergeson’s experiences helped him to develop a program that would work better for nontraditional veteran students.
“The problem with nontraditional veteran students is that generally they don’t attend those functions because it doesn’t fit their time frame. New student orientation has created a program for non-transfer veterans and that orientation was very successful,” expressed Bergeson. “It fit the time frame that suited those people. It was short and sweet and to the point.”
Echoing Bergeson’s mention of resources at ISU, Zuber mentioned the library as a widely unutilized resource for students. She also emphasized the importance of the writing lab.
