Faculty Spotlight
Linda Aldrich, Poet Laureate
Former SMCC English instructor Linda Aldrich didn’t begin writing poetry until age 40. Now she serves as an ambassador of poetry for the Greater Portland region.
Aldrich, who taught at SMCC for several years, was named Portland’s Poet Laureate in June of 2018. In her role, she helps promote and expose more people to the art of poetry.
Aldrich has published two collections of her poetry, “Foothold” and “March and Mad Women,” and her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Last year, she wrote a poem called “The Final Appeal” recounting an experience while teaching a freshman composition class at SMCC.
SMCC is blessed to have so many accomplished and published poets ― such as Kevin Sweeney, Mike Bove, David Stankiewicz, Megan Grumbling and Jefferson Navicky ― among its faculty, Aldrich says. Sweeney, Stankiewicz and Grumbling were among the featured poets at an April poetry reading in Portland that Aldrich organized in honor of “the teaching poet.”
Before teaching at SMCC, Aldrich taught at colleges in Colorado and New Hampshire. She says most poets love to teach, helping people navigate the nuances and intricacies of poetry.
“I think the teaching poet has everything to do with the appreciation of poetry in the country nowadays. I think people in general don’t pick up poetry and read it unless somebody brings them to it, or if they had good teachers when they were young.”
Graduate Spotlight
Junior Nugu, following his dream
Junior Nugu moved from his homeland of Burundi to Maine at the age of 21 to pursue a college education in social work. But when he decided his true passion was cars, he transferred to Southern Maine Community College and just last month graduated with a degree in Automotive Technology.
In hopes of giving their son the opportunity to build a bright future, Nugu’s parents sent him to the University of Southern Maine in 2011. When he arrived in the U.S., English was his sixth language.
But he had always loved repairing cars, bringing broken-down vehicles back to life, so he changed direction from social work and came to SMCC for the Automotive Technology program.
While taking classes, he did an internship working on cars at the Berlin City car dealership in South Portland. After the internship, the dealership kept him on as regular employee.
Now 29 and with a degree under his belt, Nugu would like to eventually own his own car dealership with a service department. He also dreams about starting a company manufacturing automobiles.
“I changed my mind on what kind of degree to get and said I’m going to pursue my dream. I ended up getting what I love.”