What Students Really Say About Farmington


So, what brought you to Farmington?
I actually spent my first two years of college in Portland, Oregon.

You transferred here all the way from Oregon?
I did. I wasn’t happy with the school because it seemed kind of shallow and was more expensive than it was worth. I thought Farmington would be perfect because it has a Creative Writing program and it was closer to home. At the college in Oregon, I was trying to major in English with a concentration in writing but they didn’t really have writing courses.

Had you looked at Farmington when you were originally applying to colleges?
Yes, I came here for a visit and I had heard really good things about the school but I wanted to get out of the state for a while, and I did. I guess I got it out of my system.

What did people think when you said you were transferring?
People said, “but you’re in Portland, Oregon" — which is really cool city — "why would you want to leave?” But Maine is where I’m from and I’m used to living in a rural area. And UMF has gotten a lot of recognition with its U.S. News college ranking thing.

So this is your second semester here. What do you think about UMF now?
I really like it. I was kind of surprised at how satisfying it was. I made really good friends and found that the faculty here is extremely helpful. I had heard they were because it was a small school but it exceeded my expectations.

What do like or find unique about Farmington?
I think its small size. It really allows me to grow.

For instance, I met two people my first two months here who I really bonded with and now we spend a lot of time doing art together. We were even able to start our own student club that focuses on art, the Art Renegades. At my old college, it would’ve been impossible to be able to organize it and get the support of the faculty. Here, we have not one, but three faculty advisors.

So what is The Art Renegades all about?
Our original goal was to spruce up the campus, we spent a lot of time getting together and having art parties and sitting around drawing. Then the club turned more into organizing art shows and performances and things like that. Basically, we just want to add a little excitement to Farmington and use art to bring the community onto the campus more, since we’re right in the middle of a community and there are a lot of artists in Farmington.

Have you gotten to that point yet?
Oh yes. We had a successful art auction recently. Right now, we’re organizing a film festival that we are hoping will draw artists from the community and we’ve had some good response. And we’re collaborating with the Western Mountains Alliance to promote art in the communities and we’re planning to paint murals and stuff around town.

Anything on-campus?
We held some musical performances in the UMF Art Gallery, one last semester and one this semester, and they went over really well — a LOT of people showed up.

Using the Art Gallery for concerts is a great idea!
We thought so too [laughs]. Sarah Maline [associate professor Art History and UMF Art Gallery director] is one of our faculty advisors. She has been really generous — she even secured a gallery space for us downtown. So next year we’re going to have art shows there, too.

That’s really cool. How many people are in the Art Renegades?
We have about 40 students on our listserv and usually about 12-20 people come to the meetings. We have a good group and they’re very dedicated. One other project we did was for a Mardi Gras event where we made paper maché masks, a banjo and a hot air balloon to auction off.

Are most of your friends artsy?
It’s funny, most of my friends are not Art majors but are artsy — most of them are Creative Writing majors. That’s an interesting thing I’ve found, here. Everyone I’ve connected with here has shared my interests but their major may be History. People here are very dynamic.

That’s impressive for such a new student club.
That’s what really impresses me about UMF — part of it is me and my friends who started the club and were very motivated and excited about it, but also that a lot of our professors like Mike McFalls [Assistant Professor of Art] and Steven Pane [Associate Professor of Music] and Sarah Maline [Associate Professor Art History and UMF Art Gallery Director], were so encouraging and supportive of what we’re doing.

Are you involved in anything else on campus?
Next year I’ll be the editor of the Sandy River Review, the student writing publication. It features fiction, non-fiction, poetry and art. It’ll be part of my Creative Writing apprenticeship — worth four credits.

I also have a campus work-study job at the Multi Media Center where I do a lot of video taping and video editing campus events, like soccer games and lectures. I’ve learned how to edit with Avid Express Pro, which is a really good high-end digital/video editing program. It’s been pretty cool so I’ve been making animations in my spare time — it’s pretty fun.

Have you had a favorite class or professor?
I’ve been working a lot with Pat O’Donnell [Professor of English]. She’s my faculty advisor and I had her for my writing class last semester and this semester. I’ve had a lot of interaction with her and I really like her — she’s very supportive, very involved. Mike McFalls [Assistant Professor of Art] is my Art major advisor and is also my primary Art professor this semester.

Have you had an experience in class that was really interesting?
Last semester I had an Honors class with Pat O’Donnell [Professor of English]. I enjoyed the class, partly because there were only seven people in it. It was fun. We read literature and wrote in that author’s style. I wrote in the style of Chekhov. One of my best writing pieces came out of that class.

What do you hope to do when you graduate?
I’d like to go to graduate school to earn a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Creative writing. Beyond that, anything’s possible.