Jean Sterns

Jean Sterns
Sociology Professor
Brandywine Junoir College
Wilmington, DE
Fall 1973

I didn't really have a choice about attending college.  My dad told me that I was attending. Even though I was an academic failure up to this point, he insisted that I enroll in college. So I found this junior college what had an open enrollment policy and I thought I would give it a try and maybe flunk out if I was so lucky. 

Within a few weeks, one of my professors asked me to join her for a cup of coffee after class. I was so taken aback by this invitation. None of my previous teachers had any interest in me. And now, she wants to have coffee with me. She wanted to know why I chose this school to attend. I told her about all my previous academic failures. She asked if I had siblings in college. At the time, my sister was attending Notre Dame and my brother was at LaSalle College. She asked who was paying for my college. My parents were. She told me to leave this school as soon as I could and go to a better school. Her words stunned me. No one had ever given me any academic encouragement. So, I applied to Drexel University and then to Penn State University and got in, succeeded, graduated and moved on to post graduate school.

In 1987, I dedicated my doctoral dissertation to her.