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Professor Focuses On Junior College Heroes

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By KATIE NELSON

Tribune correspondent

Published: January 2, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - In the four years since she started teaching sociology at Pasco-Hernando Community College, Maureen "Bridget" Collins has earned a reputation for inspiring her students.

Collins has worked at all four PHCC campuses through the years, but calls the Brooksville campus in Hernando County her home. While she teaches at PHCC, Collins, 54, also is working on her doctorate at the University of South Florida with a focus on community college students.

Collins, who lives in Spring Hill, says she's passionate about community college students because she understands what their lives are like. She used to be one herself.

Collins was a 16-year-old high school student living in Round Lake, Ill., when she was forced to drop out of high school to support her family.

"After I dropped out, I remember just sitting on a bench, crying. I knew it was over," she said.

She had seen it before: she'd be pregnant, she'd be someone's maid, and she'd be pregnant again.

"I was certain it was the end of my story," she said.

For several years, Collins worked two or three jobs at a time while taking care of her younger siblings. She hid the broken heart she had from dropping out, she said.

When her youngest sister was about to graduate high school, Collins earned her GED. Shortly afterward, she began studies at Lake County Community College north of Chicago.

"I knew this was going to be my only chance," she said. "I was crossing the line no one in my family had crossed before."

At Lake County Community College, Collins had the opportunity to meet renowned author Elizabeth Janeway, "Roots" author Alex Haley, and anthropologist Margaret Mead, one of her heroes - "another really wonderful learning experience," she said.

After graduating from community college, Collins won a full-tuition scholarship at Barat College of the Sacred Heart, a private, Catholic university for women in Lake Forest, Ill. She graduated in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in sociology, as well as minors in mathematics and Spanish.

Collins spent her next years in New York as a social worker helping the disabled, the abused, the homeless, rape victims and children of alcoholics.

"I lost my heart then, you know," she said.

Collins earned her master's degree in sociology, moved to Spring Hill and began teaching at PHCC. She will complete her doctorate coursework in August and afterward begin writing her dissertation on the diversity and cultural context within community colleges.

A student recently asked Collins why, with the advanced education she has, does she teach at a community college?

"My answer was, 'Do these students deserve anything less?'" she said. "There is that suggestion from society. But I think that the heroes will come from here."

Felicia LeBlanc, a former student, says she was inspired after each class she spent with Collins.

"She leaves her students with the impression that they can achieve greatness, no matter what obstacles they may encounter," said LeBlanc, 19. "She gives hope when the world seems to have turned its back."

For her own inspiration, Collins remembers a high school teacher, Tom Evers, who recognized her love of learning. To encourage her, he loaned her novels and books about philosophy.

"I try to be like Tom Evers - one teacher, who saw something brilliant in me and encouraged it," Collins said. "I want people to know that I notice when they are wonderful."

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