Buck found technology most challenging part of being non-traditional student

“Going to college at 18 is easy, going back at 54 is a lot harder.”
 
Marjorie Buck, of Iuka, went to Pratt Community College from 1967 to 1969 and got an Associate’s degree in business and then came back in 2005 and received her Bachelor’s degree in education through Fort Hays State University, on PCC’s campus.
 
Buck said the hardest part of coming back was the difference in technology.
 
“It had changed a lot and I had to learn it,” she said. “At 55 I was limited in what I knew and in order to be a teacher I had to be able to create a website.”
 
When Buck went to school in 1967 there were no computers and she worked on a calculator, transcribing machine and type writer.
 
During her time at PCC, the students moved to the location it is at currently.
 
“Everyone was excited to be going to the new building,” she said. “Before that we were in make-shift quarters and we were finally feeling like they were in college.”
 
Buck said she chose to go to PCC because all of her friend and boyfriend were going there.
 
“I have never regretted the decision,” she said. “I received a good education at PCC.”
 
Between going to PCC, Buck got married and moved to Kansas City, Mo., with her husband, where she worked in human resources part of that time.
 
Buck said when she was in human resources she found out just how important her degree was.
 
“An Associates of Art degree put me heads above someone with just a high school education or G.E.D. (General Education Development),” she said. “It shows you go above what is required and we looked at that when we were hiring people.”
 
After getting a divorce, Buck moved back to the area and said that was when she decided to come back to PCC to work towards her Bachelor’s Degree.

“At that time I needed a goal and I felt like that was an honorable one and something good to focus on,” she said.
 
Buck said people frequently ask her about going back and she tells them all the same thing.
“You can always go back, but it’s easier right out of high school,” she says.
 
She said along with having to learn new skill to keep up with the times, such as technology, the classes build on each other and if you take a break you don’t remember everything you learned before.
 
Buck is now a substitute teacher in the area, is City Clerk for the city of Iuka and does taxes at Patton and Cramer LaPrad during tax season.
 
“I’m busier than I thought I’d be, but it all just sort of fell into place,” she said.
 
Along with having three part time jobs, Buck is also involved in the Iuka Memorial Association, Pratt County Historical Museum, Apple Patch Quilters and the PCC Auction Foundation.