A Perspective on the Disbanding of the Russell Scholars Program
By Caydince Bumpus | Community Editor
When I first applied for USM, I was thrilled to get an email from Lisa Hibl, a former professor here. The email included information about the Russell Scholars program, which, as of this year was still running. I remember the email claiming that the Russell Scholars program was a living-learning community, and I was pretty eager to join it. Given how I was just getting out of high school and was a little nervous about starting college, I figured that a living-learning community would help me get more comfortable with the idea of college.
I wasn’t as close to the other students in the program only because I was placed in a different living-learning community because of a previous scholarship that I still hold. That didn’t stop the program from helping me feel more comfortable in my own skin and the classroom setting. The professor that I felt the closest to was Lisa Hibl; there was something about her energy that I felt drawn to. She made it clear that she cared for all her students, even if they weren’t part of Russell Scholars.
So you can imagine how hurt and shocked I was when I heard that the Russell Scholars program was going to be dismantled and the professors, like Lisa Hibl, were let go from the University of Southern Maine. This choice made a lot of students upset, especially students who had already gotten their fifteen credits in Russell Scholars courses; in doing so, that would allow them to graduate with the honor of being a Russell Scholar.
It saddens me that a program like this, one that was made to form close relationships with peers and professors, was so quickly disbanded. Though my time as officially being a Russell Scholar is over, I will still hold that great honor in my heart. Lisa, I want to thank you for being such an amazing influence and professor. Without you, I would never have gotten out of my bed at sunrise in the middle of the winter so that I could snap a picture for your class. And I would have never been as comfortable with myself as I am today.