Oral History Program Shannon Sowby Interviewed by Sherry Gross 14 June 2008 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Shannon Sowby Interviewed by Sherry Gross 14 June 2008 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Sowby, Shannon, an oral history by Sherry Gross, 14 June 2008, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Shannon Sowby. The interview was conducted on June 14, 2008, by Sherry Gross in the home of the interviewee in Ogden, Utah. Mrs. Gross discusses her experience as a nontraditional student attending Weber State University. SG: Today is Saturday June 14, 2008. I am Sherry Gross and I am interviewing…? SS: Shannon Sowby. SG: Shannon, how do you spell Sowby? SS: S-O-W-B-Y. SG: Alright. We are here at her home in Ogden. That is important because she is the mother of eight children, so we have to remain close by. I just have a few questions, we're going to talk today about Weber State, she is an alumni from Weber State. Shannon, when did you graduate? SS: May of ‘07. SG: And what degree did you finally graduate with? SS: I got a Bachelors of Music Education. SG: Was this for first major and if not, what brought you to Weber State? SS: The thing that brought me to Weber State was my experience, on a casual basis, I went up for Orchestra invitationals and I enjoyed the atmosphere there and I enjoyed the students. It was much more of a nurturing environment than other universities that I had been to, having the same setting, for the Orchestra invitational. I went to Weber State to 1 become a nurse. That was my first major. I did the first semester taking all of the Biomed core and doing all the things I should for the nursing program. But, I changed majors after my first year because I missed music, I missed performing, I missed being involved in all those things that it entails. SG: How did you decide upon what you finally wanted to do with that? SS: It fulfilled me. It fulfilled all the parts of me. I like composing, I like performing, I like performing with a group. I like learning about the history. The thing that I love about music is that it is not necessarily one subject matter. You've got all of these different facets of it that I enjoy. SG: What was your overall experience as a freshman at Weber State as far as trying to balance everything, trying to work and provide for yourself as well as go to school and do the best that you could with your education? SS: It was good. I was a freshman in '91 and they didn't have the programs then that they do now like the freshman orientation and all those so I felt a little lost as far as school policy, university policy and things like that, which information you can only get if you go and talk to someone at a window. But as far as knowing what I wanted and what I was working towards, I felt pretty informed. I think I was successful. It was hard because I was working full-time and trying to put myself through school and because I hadn't started school as a choral major, I never applied for any scholarships. My scholarships didn't kick in until the second or third year that I was there. 2 SG: You mentioned that you first went to Weber State in 1991. Talk a little bit about the process of being a student and the evolvement of your life and you getting to the point of finally graduating in 2007. SS: Being a non-traditional student, obviously family takes priority and there I couldn't attend school every year. With the birth of my first son, I elected to stay home and my husband took both levels of education at the same time. So, with him taking 24 credit hours at a time, we opted that it was more important for him to finish that it was for me. So, that next year he took 24 credit hours and did student teaching and then he graduated. I have just been able to go off and on. I've taken online classes, I've taken night classes, I've taken a lot of different things. With my major it's a little bit difficult because you have to be in performing groups and so when you are in school and you're a music education major, you have to go to school. You can't, finish everything - like in a lot of other majors you can just take the night classes or just take the summer courses but with music I have to be there during fall and spring, attend the performing groups, take your lessons, do your juries and so it was very, very difficult to be a non-traditional student in a major that is extremely traditionally set up. That was the challenge that I found. Because I took so long, I had to retake, not necessarily retake, but there were additional courses that I needed to take as they changed the senate bill requirements. SG: Did you find that through this experience, that the University overall, or the professors with which you worked that they did have a desire to help you learn, help you graduate, help you reach your goals? Do you feel like you were assisted in that type of way? SS: As far as the professors in my major, I felt very, very supported. It was a positive environment. Where music goes, it is somewhat competitive and because it is 3 performance based, obviously those that are successful perform well. One of the reasons that I really liked Weber State is that I got a whole education. Other universities focus on performance a lot but unfortunately, that is all they focus on. When it comes down to doing and it comes down to the theory and the analysis and things like that, I feel that now I am out in the market place and the world that I am in, I feel that I am so much better prepared than many, many that I know from other universities — that will go unnamed — in the area. That is due to my professors and their support. When they see you doing well and they see you succeeding they encourage you to follow that vein and they compliment you. I've just had many, many great people- People who have inspired me because they are so good at what they do and people that inspire me because they want you to succeed. They do whatever they can to help you. That was great asset to me in my education, especially in the situation I was in. It was easy to get discouraged. SG: With talking about discouragement or frustrating elements, were there things about your University experience, your college experience that you felt hindered you in the process of moving forward or that were frustrating hurdles to overcome that the University could have done better to make your experience a better one? SS: Well, like I said, my experience is unique. I don't know very many people that have tried to go to school with five and six and seven and eight kids. My biggest worry wasn't education per se. I felt my classes were outlined well. I was in touch with my department head so, I knew what I was doing and I knew what was expected of me. My biggest challenge was I wish that they had more daycare available. There is a place on campus and every time I would go, they would be full or they could only take one of my children. 4 I just had a unique experience in the fact that I needed three babies in day care or in the drop in, instead of just the one. You know, that's a decision that I made to go back with that many small children so, it was a hurdle for me. It was worrisome. Obviously, it wasn't convenient to go to school by any stretch of the imagination. But, as far as what the university could have done, I think I was well informed. With the flip side, you have be your own advocate. You have to know what you want and you have to know where to get your resources, because the information is out there and you have to know what information you need to get and use it to your own benefit. SG: With that, what was your major motivation? Most people wouldn't stick with, I mean, sixteen years is a long time from when you first began to the point... and obviously, you've had children, there are obvious reasons why it's taken you so long. But, there has to be - everybody had their own reasons or desires for attending a college and wanting and education. Personally, what are the reasons for you? Why did you work so hard to seek towards obtaining this degree? SS: One of the things is that I couldn't get into the field that I wanted to be in without it. You know, usually there is some kind of back door in different fields without your education but, in the field of education, there is no back door. You need to receive that degree before you can do anything. I wanted to be in that field, it's the thing that kept me going and because I love music so much and I love learning about it. I have passion for what I do, I have passion for students and helping them through the venue that I would be teaching. I just knew I had to do it. It was some internal drive; I had to finish. Yeah, there is obvious financial rewards that when you graduate you get a job that has good benefits and the pay wasn't super fantastic but, it was enough to actually contribute 5 instead of doing odd jobs and the part-time jobs and the swing shifts and things like that. My family situation was such that I needed a good day job where I could be home with my family at night. Circumstances being what they are, I had more children in school now than not and it was too difficult to have them gone all day and then me gone all night. It was what had to happen. I just continued on and continued and continued, laughter . SG: Did you find that the people that you have gone to school with, especially, I know personally because I am no longer a twenty-year-old college student - I think we have a diverse campus. There are people older than me; there are people younger than me. Did you find people or encounter other students that were in your same boat and dealing with the same experiences or did you just really feel like a fish out of water at some points? SS: I really felt like fish out of water because in Music education, you don't have a lot of folks that do that. It is usually the young students or it's the ones whose kids are grown up, that they go back to school. Like I said, you have to go full-time. You have to be in the performing groups you have to take those lessons, especially because I was on scholarship. I was required to do all those things. You're required to take piano lessons until you pass piano proficiency. You had to do those things. A lot of the time, I did, I felt like, dang it, here I was when I would go on conducting seminars in Arizona or California, I would always go with Chamber Choir. They were usually performing. All these kids were young kids. I had one lady that graduated, probably about five or six years before me. Most of her family had grown. She had, I think her youngest had gone into kindergarten and she had six children. Now she is teaching a Junior High Choir and 6 doing well. I looked at people like that and I thought if she can do it, I can do it. But, it wasn't, I was never treated badly because of it. If anything, I had younger students that were encouraging. Most of the time I was in school I was pregnant. They were always very, very supportive and very kind and I felt a lot of times that I did what I had to just to survive. As far as my schoolwork goes, I mean I got good grades and I did well, however I feel sometimes that I could have done so much better had I just had some more time or hadn't been pregnant but, that's just life and you can't re do it. You just deal with it. SG: Obviously now, looking back, you are grateful and glad that you did it. But, personally do you feel it was worth it and how is having that degree changed your life and what sense of accomplishment or what have you, does it provide for you and make you feel? SS: I'm glad that it's done laughter . It was a long, long haul. But, it has provided our family with financial stability, it's provided me with something that - I go to school and I teach and I come home and I'm happy. I'm doing something that I like. I'm not working as a nurse’s aid, I'm not bathing old people, I'm not taking phone reservations at the airlines and working swing shifts and not getting home until three in the morning. I'm not working at RC Willey, I'm not doing all those things. Not that I didn't like doing all those things. Work is work and you deal with it and make lemonade out of whatever lemons you're handed. But, I love teaching. I find that it is not just music, because I'm teaching other subjects but, I just love teaching. I love being with the students, I love watching them learn and develop. I feel like I'm doing a great service for some of my students. Yes, I'm leaving my own and have to put my own in daycare but, maybe it's a justification in my own mind because I am leaving my own children with someone else 7 during the day, but I go to school and I watch these kids change and learn and accomplish things that they haven't accomplished before. I know that I was a catalyst. I think if I can go and enjoy my day — yeah, there's some days I come home and I want to pull my hair out and I'm thinking "I'm a nut case, why did I do this"? But, I know I couldn't do it unless I had that degree. So, there are little rewards every day for doing what I've done. Yes, it has been a sacrifice but you know what, I think my children have a different view of me and a different respect for me because I did what I did. Our oldest, he'll be fourteen, he saw all the struggles, he saw me sitting down and doing homework, he saw me staying up until midnight doing reports or writing my senior project and things like that. So, he realizes on that graduation day, he was there, he realized what effort and work it takes to accomplish something like that. I feel good about it, I feel that I never cut any corners. I never did things half way. If I had to get it done and stay up until three in the morning and do it, I would stay up until three in the morning and do it. I always felt pressure. I never wanted to ask for special exceptions because, I had kids or because I was pregnant or because I had a baby. I never wanted to say...."Well, I'm different because..." The only ever concession that I ever asked for was, there was a call time for a concert and I asked Dr. Henderson - "Can I be a half hour late"? And he was like "Uh…" and I said "I have to nurse my baby." It was one of those marathon concerts and I said I couldn't be gone more than four hours. He said it was no big deal. So, I hated to ask but... SG: What do you do? SS: What do you do? So, I am very grateful I have it, I'm grateful I went to Weber State, I'm grateful that I was able to get to know the professors that I had. I have a great respect 8 for all of them and in turn they treated me with respect. I was, I felt like I was fostered along. Not that, I'm sure there are other students that had a different experience than my but, I truly felt like I was tutored in every way. When I would write my pieces or things like that, Dr. Root pulls me in and says "Come here, come sit down." He didn't have to do that. He didn't have to pull me in and say "Look what you're doing here, that's great work." He wasn't even my teacher at that time. I hadn't had him for a theory teacher in ten years. But yet, he took the time and singled me out to say come, lets visit and talk about this. I have a great respect for that man. Not necessarily because he singled me out, but because he is such an accomplished person and that he was willing to take the time with me to talk and to look at things and to further my education whereas he wasn't even my professor anymore. I have a lot of good memories of Weber State and I'm grateful that I did what I did and I think that we as a family, me as a person, have been blessed because of it and it was where I was supposed to go. SG: Do you feel like once you graduated that the education you were provided - so often you here people that are graduating and their going into the work place to work in their specified field, whether it's directly or in the periphery and they're scared to death, that they feel unprepared to be in that position. How did your education at Weber State specifically feel like when you left, you were prepared to do the job that Weber State is sending you out into the world to do? SS: Well, my personality is of such that I'm really not afraid to do anything. I'm of the opinion, whatever you have to do well, you'll either learn as you go or figure it out. However, in comparison with other music education majors in my field - we are close with someone who did graduate from another institution, he was scared spitless. The 9 tragedy of that is he's not even working in his field because he never, even went into it. After his student teaching experience, he was like, I'm not doing this. So, he has a music education degree and he's in insurance. SG: That's too bad. SS: It is. I just felt prepared in every way. I felt prepared theoretically, as far as my content area goes. I felt prepared in all of the busy work things that teachers have to do. For my student teaching I had an excellent teacher that I student taught with, I learned so much from her. I got a lot of real world advice from my professors. Everything was taught in context - as in, when you're teaching and you needs to this, this is how you do it. In my content area, I cannot sing the praises loud enough of those people in my content area. Those people there have it all covered. I received a well-rounded education in every aspect. SG: That's great. Thank you for taking the time. Just wanted to ask a few questions at the end, perhaps I should have done it in the beginning, but, did either of your parents graduate from college? SS: No, neither of my parents are college graduates. SG: Do you feel that that additionally spurred you on, or did that affect you in your personal choices in getting a college education? SS: It affected me as a non-example. SG: So, it did drive you toward... SS: Yes, it did. SG: That decision. 10 SS: I didn't want to be limited by my lack of education. And I didn't want to be stuck doing things that were my only alternative because I didn't have an education. I wanted to get an education so I could do what I love and I can be fulfilled in what I'm doing. Our working lives are in many cases, fifty years long. Why do something you don't love, for fifty years? SG: It sound like your education at Weber State has brought you to a place that ultimately you wanted to be. SS: I think so. I would love to go and get my Masters, as I hone my skills, I'll find out what further education will interest me. But, yes, I honestly feel that I could not in my circumstances and my resources I had available to me, I could not have gotten a better education in the inter-mountain west, or in the whole West. I don't think I could have gotten a better education. SG: That says a lot about the school and about those professors that obviously are good at what they do and gratefully, they choose to work at Weber State and we have access to them. SS: That's true. Especially as I get out in to the "real" world. SG: Yeah, the real world. SS: The real world. And like I said, I've seen colleagues graduate from other institutions, and not just Utah institutions, other, from out of state. They even confide and say "They never taught us that in school" or "Oh, I didn't know about that." So, I feel very pleased that I was able to be so prepared. 11 SG: Great. Thanks. Again, my name is Sherry Gross G-R-O-S-S and I have spoken with Shannon Sowby S-O-W-B-Y. Today is June 14, 2008. I, myself, am doing this oral history as a project for Dr. Katherine Mackay. Thank you. 12