October 6, 2006 Source: :
http://www.mala.ca/media/release.asp?ID=965 Sharing the university
experience Pamela and Sofia
Walker always joked about ending up at the same school, but they never
thought it would happen. Pamela, a mother of four including 18-year-old Sofia, is in her fourth year
of a Bachelor of Arts degree, English major, at Malaspina University-College
in Nanaimo. Before she came to Malaspina, Pamela ran a coffee shop in her home community
of Port Alberni for eight years, where she’d hoped to surround herself with
literature-loving people like herself. "In the coffee shop I thought people would come in and talk politics and
read poetry but instead they talked about the latest hockey score. It wasn’t
the intellectual stimulation I was looking for." So Pamela started taking a creative writing course at North Island College’s
Port Alberni campus where her instructor told her if she was serious about
writing, then she needed to get to know the "famous dead writers". "I decided he was right and I sold my coffee shop to start my degree. It was
the best thing I ever did. I love it. I pinch myself every day to see if
it’s real - I’m just so happy," said Pamela. Her daughter Sofia is following in her footsteps. Sofia always had a passion
for the arts and is specifically interested in photography, so she started
her first year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Malaspina this fall. "I’ve always loved being creative and thought why not fine arts," said
Sofia. Now the mother and daughter team can be seen driving to campus nearly every
day together. "It’s cute," said Sofia. "We have our lunches together and know what our
schedules are. We meet each other’s friends and share the driving from Port
Alberni. On the way home we talk about what we’ve covered in class, which
helps us remember what we learned." Sofia, who is Pamela’s third child, also loves having her mom all to
herself. And because Malaspina has students in every age range, she doesn’t
feel it’s odd to be sharing a school or even a classroom with her mom or
someone else her mom’s age. "Malaspina is different from high school," said Sofia. "It’s different
having such a range of ages in one classroom and it’s nice the teachers are
so connected to you." After graduating from Malaspina, Pamela will apply to take her master’s
degree at the University of Victoria. She’d eventually like to return to
Port Alberni to teach English and creative writing at North Island College. -30- For more information contact: Toni O'Keeffe, Director of Communications &
Public Relations. Phone (250) 740-6341; FAX (250) 740-6474; E-mail
okeeffet@mala.bc.ca
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