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Nadine Chicoine ’87 was in her forties when she finally had time to go back to college. “This probably is not the thing to say, but when I went to look at St. Mary’s College I said to myself ‘that place is so pretty.’ Even before I checked and found how good the college was, I thought that if I’m going to some place every day, I want it to be pretty, to have a feeling of art and beauty….Why drive to D.C.?”

Majoring in psychology, Chicoine says her return to college was a family affair. Her husband would come join her for lunch and her sons only teased her a bit about homework. “I did wonder at first if I would be able to keep up, though I did probably study more than was needed. The first class I took was with Dr. Roy Hopkins in psychology, and he was very helpful and understanding. He told me after my first test that I might enjoy the entire returning-tocollege process a lot more if I didn’t try to get 105% on every test.” Today, Nadine is a commercial photographer. You will find her works of nature at the North End Gallery in Leonardtown, the Glass Garden Shoppe in Park Hall, and in the Southern Maryland Trails Guide.

Is college the only answer? “Keep learning is the important part,” she responds. “Not how you choose to do it.”