Digital Interview with April Schmidt Conducted by English Faculty, December 2012

What year did you graduate and what was your area of emphasis?

B.S. English-Professional Writing, 2002

B.S. Geography, 2002

M.S.E. Adult Education, 2007

How did you wind up working at UW-Platteville after graduation? (And/or) What is it like teaching in the program you attended as a student?

In 1997 at age 19 with a family of my own, I enrolled as a nontraditional student at UW-Platteville. Because I needed to support my family, I worked on campus almost the entire time I was a student. Initially, I served as caretaker for the Biology Department’s indoor greenhouse and later as administrative support for the Humanities Department. When I graduated in 2002, I was six months pregnant with my second son Owen, and my oldest son Kelvin was six years old. So, I was settled into the community pretty well by that point.

As an undergraduate, my ultimate goal was to become a freelance writer and editor for academic publishers. After graduating, I worked in-house as a project coordinator for a small publishing company. About 18 months later, I became a freelance editor for various academic publishers, including Taylor and Francis, IGI Global, Sage, and Ansmar Publishers. From 2004 to 2008, I edited over 100 published books and journals.

In 2004, as a graduate student at UW-Platteville, I became the graduate assistant for the Teaching Excellence Center and for the Early Childhood Education program of the School of Education. From 2006 to 2008, I also worked part-time for Public Relations, Alumni Services, and the Registrar’s Office. Additionally, I initiated and directed an internship program and some conferences. Knowing my work, the current chair of the Humanities Department hired me to teach Freshman Composition in Fall 2006, which I am still teaching today despite several semesters off, during which I explored other career options.

Honestly, I don’t feel like I teach in the same program I attended as a student because I only teach Freshman Composition, a low-level, required course. Aside from helping me identify my gifts with language (research writing, specifically), the comp courses I took as an undergraduate were a miniscule part of my program. Moreover, most of the English program faculty/staff I worked with as an undergraduate have retired, so the program has changed with the addition of new faculty. Thus, I’ve observed the program grow and evolve over the years.

Could you tell us a little about the paths you’ve traveled since you graduated?

In 2009, I chose to move to Illinois. I picked up a K-12 substitute teaching gig in Ogle and Lee Counties where I worked for about 20 different schools. Anyone with a degree can become a substitute teacher, and I just needed a job to pay the bills while searching for a teaching job at one of the local community colleges or universities. However, I enjoyed the variety substituting offered and learned that teaching kindergarten and first grade is the most difficult job on the planet.

In 2010, I enrolled in a Doctorate of Business Administration program in Social Impact Management at Walden University. My choice of programs is an extension of my interest in rhetoric and business ethics, which was the topic of my master’s thesis (on the shelf in Karrmann Library). Presently, I am three weeks away from completing my last course in the program. I will spend the next year writing my dissertation.

Also in 2010, I started working part-time at MotherHouse Crisis Nursery (MH), an off-site program of Children’s Home + Aid in Rockford, IL. MH is a small non-profit organization that cares for children of families in crisis, and it runs like an emergency room, not a daycare. Initially, I was hired as a fill-in lead teacher and later as a database manager and volunteer coordinator. Currently, I fill all three roles in one to two days per week and almost full-time during summers. It’s not a great-paying job, but I love it and the people I work with. All of my coworkers live extremely challenging lives, and they inspire me to persist and prevail every day despite adversity.

What are a couple of your favorite student memories of your time at UW-Platteville?

Answering this and the next question, I do not feel that my time was wasted in any way at UW-Platteville, but I regret not becoming more involved in student governance and clubs. My biggest regret is not participating in a study abroad program. My reality at the time consisted of family, work, and classes with no extra time or money to take part in other activities, so my favorite memories are entirely academic.

First, the experience that changed me the most was working as a graduate assistant for Dr. Gwendolyn Coe in the Early Childhood Education program of the School of Education. She had received a grant to implement Elena Bodrova’s Tools of the Mind program in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade classrooms of Southwest Wisconsin. This program is based on renowned Russian researcher Lev Vygotsky’s social development theory, and it basically teaches young children how to self-regulate their behavior and emotions. Among other tasks, I transcribed about 30 hours of Bodrova’s conferences. The task was extremely difficult because of her Russian accent, but I found the content fascinating and useful for managing my 2-year-old and expanding the age range of my communicative repertoire.

The two experiences I characterize as the most beloved of my time as a student are the graduate practicum in Teaching English as a Second or Other Language (TESOL) and writing my master’s thesis. Patricia Jonas and Wendy Perkins led the TESOL course in which they and the students collaborated to teach an American/Japanese Conversation class. I simply enjoyed the collaboration and camaraderie in that class, specifically in how we worked together to provide our Japanese guests with valuable learning experiences.

Although I’m a bit embarrassed about the quality of writing in my master’s thesis, I’m proud of the message it contains about the importance of rhetorical analysis in collaboratively competitive contexts. Also, I really appreciate the critical feedback I received from my thesis committee, Dr. Dennis Ciesielski (and I suspect his wife Dr. Virginia Crank, an English professor at UW-LaCrosse), Dr. Richard Waugh, and Dr. George Smith. They were open to my idea for a multidisciplinary thesis and worked with me to improve my ideas and writing. The thesis made the most impact on improving my writing skills. I conquered writer’s block so many times during the writing of my thesis that I have not experienced it since. 

Is there a class or classes that you wish now you could have taken, but didn’t?  If so, why?

I wish the Social and Environmental Justice minor had been available when I was a student here because I have been extremely passionate about business human rights for the last 10 years or so.

Can you tell us about one or two high points of your life since you’ve graduated?

In October 2008, I wrote a paper based on my master’s thesis and presented it at Carthage College in Kenosha, WI during a conference called The World and Business: Responsibilities, Obligations, and Profit. It was an amazing opportunity for me to meet other scholars concerned with the changing business landscape in response to global climate change and resource depletion and for me to share my research on collaborative competition as a catalyst for corporate social responsibility and competitive advantage.

In 2008 and 2009, I developed and directed two conferences in partnership with the Humanities Department and Continuing Education. The main objective of the conferences was to familiarize high school English teachers with college writing concepts and requirements that would allow them to better prepare their students for college-level writing. Teachers were able to earn continuing education credits for their participation in the conference, and some teachers developed and implemented new learning activities in their classrooms based on what they had learned at the conference.

 (If you are a writer) Do you still write?  Can we follow up and interview you for our writing blog later on?

My writing consists almost entirely of research and technical papers, and I have only recently begun to develop my creative writing skills in song writing. As a current doctoral student, I write a minimum of 10 pages of research per week. Generally, unless I am reading, I am writing. I believe the English program instilled this discipline in me to write daily and to use that writing for practical as well as cathartic purposes. I would be glad to share my doctoral study with you when it’s finished.

Could you ask yourself another question about something you wished we had asked you about, and answer it?

What benefits did a college education (specifically, a liberal arts education) provide you?

Foremost, my studies in classic and contemporary rhetoric opened me up to a whole world of language I didn’t know existed. They have given me the ability to adapt in all situations and to understand and accept other realities. Combined with my natural inclination for empathy and tolerance, my courses in rhetoric, literature, human geography, education, communication, and ethnic studies gave me the disposition to correspond and get along with people of all ages from street bums to corporate millionaires, worldly and unworldly, local and international. In short, I have learned to live in the moment and adapt as reality unfolds. A college education is not just about getting a lucrative job; it is about creating a fulfilling life with a viable career; it is about learning how to make choices in situations when a clear right or wrong does not exist. Thus, a liberal arts education teaches one how to manage the gray areas of life and accept the outcomes or develop strategies to change or influence the outcomes. It saved me from a life of certain misery similar to the effect of education on Henrietta Lacks’ daughter Deborah (in the Campus Read book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks). When she learned everything related to the use of her mother’s cells, she was able to accept reality and transcend the paranoia and fear she experienced from relying on assumptions and incomplete information. Before that learning, she suffered mentally, physically, and socially. 

Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

In ten years, I hope to be a professor/consultant in sustainability, business ethics, and business human rights. I am willing to move anywhere to achieve this goal.