Adult Learner Services provides center for information, companionship

Editor's note: This is the last story in a three-part series focusing on adult learners at the University. This article explores student interaction in the Center for Adult Learner Services lounge.

Picture a small cozy lounge filled with students chatting about exams and assignments, some munching Spaghetti O's, and the quiet ticking of a grandfather clock sounding in the background.

This could be an off-campus apartment or dorm room, but it is actually the lounge in the Center for Adult Learner Services, 323 Boucke.

The center consists of offices where adult students can get information, a small study lounge, a cozy living room setting and a kitchenette.

But the center also provides adult students at the University with something less tangible -- companionship.

The lounge area provides adult students with a place where they can gather and talk to each other, said Charlene Harrison, director for the center.

"There are times when all the chairs are taken and there are people on the floor. And we've gotten feedback that it's really not a large enough place," Harrison said.

The reasons for the crowded conditions are practical.

"Some people come a great distance," she said, "and they're coming with someone, and they need a place where they can park themselves and wait, because when they go home after their commute there's pots and kids."

While munching on yogurt, Tamara Smith (senior-philosophy and religious studies) said the center's lounge provides her with the company of other students, and a place where she can relax, study and spend time when she is not at class. Smith said she has a 20-minute drive to her residence in Bellefonte.

At the lounge, Smith said, she connects with other students and gets advice, relying on her companions the same way younger students rely on members of their circle of friends.

"It's easier to relate to somebody who appreciates Bruce Springsteen and who has no idea who the Smashing Pumpkins are," Smith said. "When I'm up here and I'm complaining about something," she said, "I don't have to stop and explain to these people where I am coming from."

Smith said she found the center through her sister when she first considering applying to the University.

Other students like Jason Bitner (sophomore-finance) said they found the center through other means.

A veteran of the Navy, Bitner said he found the center because it happened to be located right next to the veteran's office.

"I kind of got sucked into a chair and never left," Bitner said.

The lounge, Harrison said, is an integral part of the center.

"It gives students a chance to interact with other adults," she said.

The lounge provides a quiet study area and a place away from the bustle of the University, Bitner said. It is a place where adult students can sit around and talk about local issues and things they have in common, she explained.

The center also provides prospective students with information and counseling, said staff assistant Kathy Hillegass.

Hillegass added there is also a small lending library where students can check out information books or brochures, and a bulletin board where information on jobs is placed.

It is difficult, she said, for prospective students to know where to start.

"We try to have as many resources as possible for them," Hillegass said.

London said she thinks sometimes adult learners at the University are ignored, because they are adults and many people think they can handle everything without assistance.

However, some adult students said they need more assistance from the University.

"The one thing we need in there that I think is important, is more space," Penny London (sophomore-historical design and renovation) said as she gestured to the small room crammed with two couches, a coffee table and a few chairs. "And the second thing we need is computers that are on-line."

At this time there is not enough funding to hook up Internet services or expand the lounge area, Hillegass said.