|
Student Profile — Terry Thompson
From farming to MATC’s online journalism course
By Meagan Parrish
 Although Terry Thompson always wanted to be a writer, the path she took to becoming a journalist and news writing student at MATC was by no means a straight road.
It would not be until her husband of 35 years passed away that the sudden need to support herself would lead Thompson to the doorstep of the Galesville Republican, the newspaper circulating in her small community near La Crosse. The editor of the Republican decided to take a chance on the 56-year-old widow who has a resume overflowing with life experiences.
Thompson now writes five-to-seven stories per week for the paper. In the spring of 2006, she took MATC’s online Newswriting and Reporting course to help further build her skills as a journalist.
“I was really freaked because I didn’t know if I could navigate the computer well enough to do it and didn’t know if I could compete with 20-year-olds,” Thompson said of her first experience in a classroom since 1970. “But it went especially well.”
With the encouragement of her editor, Thompson is considering completing the journalism certificate MATC will soon be offering. Although it has been a long time since she has been in an academic environment, this will not be the first time she has studied journalism.
In high school, Thompson was editor of the school’s newspaper. Her future as a reporter was seemingly set. But as fate would have it, Thompson would not start working as a professional journalist for nearly 40 years.
“Recently I was driving down the highway and laughed out loud because I remembered how my high school class ‘prophecy’ was that I would become editor of this paper,” Thompson said, referring to the Galesville Republican, where she now works.
In college, Thompson’s aspirations for becoming a journalist began to wane. Suddenly uninterested in a career as a reporter that might involve working for a high-pressure media organization, Thompson re-focused her studies on secondary education. Ultimately, however, Thompson ended her college career to marry a man 15 years her senior.
Together they had two children and survived the economic ups and downs of rural life as dairy farmers. After 22 years, diabetes and kidney failure caused Thompson’s husband to become permanently disabled. Although Thompson continued to farm, she spent much of her time taking care of him.
“It took a lot of patience, and I didn’t always have it. I came to know myself better than I ever thought I would and didn’t necessarily always like myself,” Thompson said. “But I’m very happy that I was able to see him through.”
Thompson was also struck with health problems of her own. In her mid-30s, Thompson had to be treated for breast cancer with chemotherapy and by having a breast removed.
Through these trying times, reading and writing were often Thompson’s chosen form of therapy.
“I read 338 books to my husband over the course of 13 years,” Thompson said.
While struggling with cancer, Thompson found her release in poetry. “I mostly wrote about my faith in God and how it got me through,” she explained.
Thompson eventually self-published a chapbook of her poetry. But these days she is known locally as one of just a few contributing writers to the Republican.
In a community mostly untouched by the phenomenon of blogging and online news writing, Thompson said people are often lined up outside the door of the paper’s office when the new issue is about to be published.
“It’s very flattering. I didn’t realize there are so many people who, like, live for it,” Thompson said of the Republican, which maintains a circulation of 2,000.
Thompson is especially drawn to the craft of writing feature stories. This type of writing allows her to meet and interact with people in her community.
“Everyone has a story. It’s really interesting,” she said.
Thompson hopes this will be the job from which she will one day retire. Although the circumstances may have been both difficult and unexpected, Thompson has nonetheless found a comfortable place for herself as a life-long writer and student of journalism.
Note: Meagan Parrish is a MATC journalism student who is enrolled in the Liberal Studies Program.
|
