Bangor woman with 2 degrees returns to college to attain job

BANGOR – What do you do if two college degrees aren’t enough to get you the job you really want? As Emily Farkas found out, you return to college to a third degree.

This fall, Farkas, a graduate of Woodland High School, returned to the New England School of Communications, an affiliate of Husson College, seeking a bachelor’s degree in communications. She already holds an associate degree from NESCom and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Husson College, the result of having enrolled in the Two Plus Two Program between the two institutions.

In July, Farkas was employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the Student Career Experience Program, a function of the Farm Service Agency. When she learned that a public affairs specialist position would be available, she expressed her interest in communications, citing her experience writing for the Quoddy Times Weekly in Eastport and as a sales representative for radio stations WZON, WKIT and WDME.

Administrators were impressed with her credentials, but there was one catch. She needed a bachelor’s degree in communications to nail down the public affairs position. So she went back to school this fall and is taking a senior seminar from NESCom President George Wildey and an introduction to Web publishing with Scott Taylor of Sephone Internet Solutions to accumulate the credits needed for the degree.

Meanwhile, Farkas works as a trainee at the Rural Development office in Bangor writing and editing news releases, organizing events, preparing information for meetings and focusing on communications and internal affairs. She expects to be awarded the bachelor’s degree in May.

What has Farkas learned from her experience? There’s no such thing as too much education.