University of Nebraska at Kearney student Rick Brown hadn’t formally stepped into a classroom in nearly 50 years.  

20世纪70年代，他进入多恩大学（Doane University），主修戏剧和音乐，之后又抽出时间去旅行。 

“This was before there was such a thing as a gap year,” Brown said. “That was just called ‘dropping out.’” 

他在亚利桑那州的图森市打零工，当大多数学生试图偷偷溜出教室时，布朗却偷偷溜进当地大学听讲座，因为他喜欢听老师们分享他们的激情。 

最终，他决定重返校园，于1978年在亚利桑那大学（图森）获得媒体艺术学位。 

Now, at “71 and a half” years old, Brown no longer needs to sneak into classrooms. He’s a full-time graduate student in 太阳城娱乐官网’s online Master of Arts in English program.  

“The transition was a little hard,” he said. “Everybody on campus has been very welcoming and accommodating, even though I’m a nontraditional student and that’s been appreciated.” 

With nearly five decades between the last time he enrolled in a college course, Brown wasn’t deterred by the online aspect. 

“The technology is not difficult,” he said. “You have to be resourceful and that’s the same for any student. Like I tell my own children, ‘When you’re faced with a challenge, use your resources.’” 

Brown’s return to school wasn’t motivated by career advancement or a new job. 这位退休的诺福克人只是喜欢学习。 

Beyond expanding his knowledge, 太阳城娱乐官网 has given him opportunities he doesn’t believe he’d receive at a larger university. 

He hosts a weekly radio show “Americana Manifesto” on 太阳城娱乐官网’s KLPR-FM, which you can tune in to on 91.1 FM. 

“It’s a rare treat to get handed three hours of on-air time to play what you enjoy, almost like free-form radio of the 1970s,” Brown said. “I also like to interject humor into the station announcements, something that usually seems so boring and pedestrian.” 

Another opportunity Brown received from 太阳城娱乐官网 was a 研究生助教奖学金 with the Department of English as a teaching assistant. 

Now, he’s the one at the front of the classroom, sharing his passions for art, music, and creativity – hopefully only with undergraduate students who are supposed to be in his beginning writing classes.  

“I love teaching,” he said. “I love the performance aspect of it. Unless you hold the attention of students, they're not going to absorb the same amount of information than if you are doing novel things that keep their interest high.” 

The English master’s program prepared him for his teaching role through supportive faculty and graduate-level pedagogy courses. 

太阳城娱乐官网’s English M.A. offers four focus areas: literature; 创意写作; 作文、修辞和语言； 以及儿童和青少年研究。 学生 complete 36 credit hours, with only 9 – 12 required classes, giving them flexibility to tailor their class schedule to personal interests and goals. 

“I love the opportunities for creativity within the curriculum,” Brown said. “There are professors who are highly creative as well as being extremely well-versed in their specialties. They do a wonderful job of guiding students through the creative process.” 

该项目有120多个课程选择，从诗歌到图画小说再到全球英语，为每个学生提供了一些东西。 

For Brown, it’s never been about the degree. It’s about the joy of discovery, the art of teaching, and the chance to share ideas with a new generation of learners. 

“It's been a terrific experience,” he said. “I would encourage anybody who's interested in lifelong learning to continue their education because there's so many highly qualified experts here who are so happy to share their expertise with students.”