{"id":5915,"date":"2017-02-03T12:20:13","date_gmt":"2017-02-03T18:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=5915"},"modified":"2017-02-03T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2017-02-03T18:20:13","slug":"non-traditional-student-pursues-passions-southern-arkansas-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2017\/non-traditional-student-pursues-passions-southern-arkansas-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-traditional student pursues her passions at Southern Arkansas University"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Della Campbell of Magnolia is a non-traditional student who has been auditing classes for the past two years at Southern Arkansas University. Her wit and personality make her an asset for the Academic Enrichment Center, where she volunteers as a history tutor and front-desk worker.
\nHer personality has certainly caught the attention of students. \u201cThey ask me what my major is, and I tell them I\u2019m working toward a bachelor’s in \u2018F-U-N.\u2019 It takes them a minute to get it, and then they laugh and say, \u2018You\u2019re here for fun?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Campbell, or Della, as she prefers, has been a resident of Magnolia since 1991 but has seen much of the United States and the world as a Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran. She served her country from 1973-1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born and raised in the military,\u201d Della said. \u201cMy father retired from the Army and I joined when I was 22. I grew up as an only child and I wanted to get away! My late husband retired from the U.S. Marines.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she has lived in California, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, Alabama, South Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, among other places. \u201cI know that a whole world exists outside Arkansas,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cMy husband spent his entire career around large cities and when we came here, he liked it, and so we decided to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her husband ran a business in Magnolia, Campbell Computers, but he passed away in 1994. \u201cI was not looking forward to moving back to Minnesota,\u201d Della said of her decision to stay in Magnolia.<\/p>\n

Della holds an AS in business administration, received from MiraCosta College in Oceanside, Calif., as well as an AA in theatre from the same institution. She worked as a clerk, ticket agent for Greyhound, receptionist, and SCAT dispatcher for Central Arkansas Development Council for 11 years and then retired in 2010. Today, she keeps busy answering students\u2019 questions as they come into the AEC and maintaining inventory of the Center\u2019s graphing calculators, which are available for loan to students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here Monday, Wednesday and Friday,\u201d Della said. \u201cI can help with most subjects except math. I can speak in a few foreign languages \u2013 Spanish, German, French, Arabic \u2013 I forget my Chinese. I try to speak well enough to say \u2018please,\u2019 \u2018sit down\u2019 and \u2018thank you\u2019 in the languages.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she has certain advantage in her classes. \u201cThe rest of the students will be asked to write a seven-page report, and I’ll maybe write a report.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI bounce around,\u201d she said of her courses. \u201cI\u2019ll keep doing it until I get bored or run out of classes I like. I\u2019ve audited anthropology, history, geography, philosophy, religion. I stay away from anything that has a lab!\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she finds history courses particularly interesting because unlike the majority of her fellow students, \u201cI lived through much of it \u2013 when we talk about the Cold War, I\u2019m like, \u2018been there, done that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring, Della, who is the mother of Arthur, was awarded Student Support Services’ Volunteer of the Year Award. Last fall, during the annual SSS Open House, she was voted by students as Tutor of the Month of September (People’s Choice).<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile never taking the honors seriously, it seems, on the surface, Della’s humble attitude shows in her winning smile,\u201d said Lavana Kindle, SI coordinator. \u201cShe has become a favorite among the students and the tutors. We are very proud of Della’s devotion to SAU and to our students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Della Campbell of Magnolia is a non-traditional student who has been auditing classes for the past two years at Southern Arkansas University. Her wit and personality make her an asset for the Academic Enrichment Center, where she volunteers as a history tutor and front-desk worker. Her personality has certainly caught the attention of students. \u201cThey… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":5916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7753,143],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-homepage","8":"category-student-life","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}