Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Karen Jestice
Title
Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Karen Jestice
Description
Date
December 2, 2016
Duration
14:13 minutes
Transcription
Sweet MUMories Oral History Project
Transcript: Karen Jestice, December 2, 2016
Donation Record # Jestice.K.12022016
Transcribed by and approved for deposit by Marsha Robinson on 8/10/2018.
Copyright Miami University. All rights reserved.
MRR My name is Marsha Robinson and we are recording an oral history with Karen Charlton Jestice as part of the Sweet MUMories Oral History Project. This project marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Miami University Middletown, Ohio, campus. This interview is taking place on December 2, 2016, at the Gardner-Harvey Library. Mrs. Jestice, do I have your consent to proceed with this interview?
KJ Yes, you do.
MRR Thank you. So your connection with Miami University began in 1966. Could you tell us about the first idea of coming to this college?
KJ Well, when I was in high school money was tight in our family and I had won a scholarship at school and my scholarship was only two hundred dollars but that two hundred dollars actually paid for I think the first semester here at MUM, my books and the college education and everything so that helped and that was the main reason that I came here and I know some of my classmates that was the reason for them coming too because it was so convenient because it was so close to the town we lived in and just coming here and the cost I mean it was just very beneficial to have it and to start up we were very lucky.
MRR So, what high school did you attend?
KJ I graduated from Springboro High School.
MRR And the idea of having a college so close by was very important to your classmates?
KJ Oh, yes it was. There was, there were several students from Springboro that came here and I think they went the two years and then transferred to the Oxford campus.
MRR So, you started in 1966 and what was your major?
KJ I started out an Elementary Education when I first came here.
MRR What were some of those classes like?
KJ They were a lot of fun. The students were a close knit group and not only did I have my former classmates from Springboro but I met a lot of other classmates from Middletown and some of the other schools and we did study groups together. Some of the classes we did our activities together. I can remember going to a church and interacting with the children there and in one of the classes we learned how to play games with parachutes and that was new to me because I didn’t know, have any idea that you’d a parachute to interact with students. That was a lot of fun and we did that. And there was project we had to do where we had to make games and I can remember making bowling game out of Clorox bottles and putting sand, just a little sand in to keep them up and then you had a fairly large ball that the students could hit and knock the bowling pins over but it was very inexpensive and it was fun doing that.
MRR So how long did you stay at Miami doing that degree?
KJ I was here just for one year in Elementary Education and then I moved away for a year and then came back.
MRR Ok. Can you talk more about the close group of friends? Where did you sit to do your study groups? What was your favorite part of campus?
KJ Well, I really liked the library. We could come and we had to be quite of course in here but we could, we could sit at a table in a group if we wanted to and study together and ask each other questions or we had little cubicles we could go sit by ourselves. But I can remember sitting over in Johnston Hall close to where the Registrar’s office is and where the window was where you could look out the window and we would just sit on those couches and have little study groups and I think there was a TV up there too we used to watch the soap operas in the afternoon.
MRR So when you came back you did not graduate immediately from Miami. Were you going full time, part time? What was it that brought you to become an alum? Could you talk about that path?
KJ Yes. After I moved back I was married, I had children but I still wanted to continue my education so I started taking like a course at a time as I continued to work and eventually had, I think I had another year in Elementary Education but the funds were tight at that time so I inherited some money from my grandmother so I decided to go into nursing and I stopped the courses at MUM and I went to the Dayton School of Practical Nursing and became an LPN.
MRR And then you came back to MUM?
KJ Eventually I did. I worked at Otterbein and I started taking more nurses courses here at the campus to get my RN degree so I eventually took enough courses and got up to where I had to do the clinical part and took two full years to do clinical here and I did that, worked full time and eventually graduated from nursing in 1984.
MRR What was a clinical class like? What was that like?
KJ I’m sorry.
MRR What was a clinical class like?
KJ It was a lot of fun. We were learning but we learned on each other, I mean we had to give each other baths and, you know take each other’s temperature. I can remember doing the shots, when we did the shots of course we weren’t allowed to give each other shots but we practiced on an orange and doing that. We, I was trying think how many students was in my nursing class but it’s like we started and it was the same students for the whole two years and we got to know each other very well, we helped each other and especially when we went to the hospitals and the clinical settings not only did we have the instructor we had each other. We sat down and we’d talk about the patients that we took care of and it was a very good learning experience just talking with each other and learning how different people took care of the different patients and handled different situations and some of the things that came up.
MRR Would you say that your classmates created a sense of family to help each other through your program?
KJ Oh, definitely. I had to have surgery when I was a student and one of my friends because I think we were only allowed to miss three days at the time or you got kind of kick out of the nursing program until you could come back at a further date and I had had the surgery and the one friend of mine carried all my books everything so I didn’t have to carry my books.
MRR I’d also like to talk about what it was like to know you could be a nontraditional student and be accepted at MUM? What was that feeling like?
KJ I don’t know that it was any different because I think all the students here, most of the students here were in the same situation I was.
MRR Which was?
KJ Which was, I didn’t have the funds or the opportunity to stay on a campus, you know and stay in housing or anything and it was just so convenient to come here and drive to class and be able to go home at night, not worry about anything.
MRR And then what was one of the funniest things you recall from your time as a student here?
KJ Trying to get up the hill when it snowed because the roads slick and you had to start way down where Thesken Hall is now and go very slowly, keep your foot on the gas pedal and hope you got up the hill and if you didn’t then you were hoping there was nobody behind you because you had to back down the hill and try it again and there’s been times it took me three or four times to get up the hill.
MRR Would you mind telling us what it was like to be a nurse from MUM and to see the movement from the hospital on the hill in Middletown to the Atrium Center?
KJ Uh huh. I started working at the old Middletown Regional Hospital and I had several classmates and other people from MUM that I worked with and as much as I can recall everybody that worked at the old hospital transferred to the new hospital. We were really excited about getting the hospital and having all new equipment. We actually got an input into what was going to be in hospital. They asked us about the equipment, they asked us about the room setup, they asked us about the beds. I mean it was really exciting at that time so after we went to the new hospital, I’ve lost my train of thought. What was it you wanted me to ask about?
MRR You mentioned something about looking for a location for the new Atrium Hospital.
KJ Oh, ok. Yes, before they torn the old hospital down and while they were planning the new hospital I know there was a question about where the new hospital would be built. I know one was down on Greentree Road down around where Burn Nursery was and then there’s the location that they had I know for a long time we were wondering where the new hospital was going to be built but eventually they got everything worked out and I’m really glad that they put the hospital where it was. And I think it’s worked out well there and I know there was a lot of things in the newspaper too about the people of the community not wanting the hospital so far out away from town but I think it’s been a good location, I really do. I think the people have accepted it now so.
MRR Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like future scholars and researches to know about Miami University Middletown and what it means to the people?
KJ Well, I think it’s a beautiful campus. I think anybody that wants to come here I think the education that I received here is just as well as the education people on the Oxford campus are getting and in fact some of the courses that I had I had professors from Oxford that came over here to teach so I think the education on any of the campuses at Miami University are equal. I can’t, I have no complaints at all with the education that I got.
MRR Is there anything from the early years of the campus that you hope we continue to do in the next fifty years
KJ Oh. That’s a tough question. I don’t have any complaints at all from going here I would say that whatever they’re doing just to continue. I don’t know if there’s room to expand to put more buildings in or to offer, I don’t know how to say this, offer more courses in different areas because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen what you offer here. I don’t know what you offer, I’m sorry.
MRR It’s ok. But it’s important to have, for people to have access.
KJ Oh, I think it is, yeah and if I don’t know about this ever being a four-year college or not but that would really help the community if it was a four-year college.
MRR How so?
KJ Well, because I think you would have more people going here than going away to like Oxford or I mean the opportunity is here for the people of this area
MRR OK.
KJ I mean, if it had been a four-year college when I was going to school I probably would have continued on and got my bachelor’s degree.
MRR OK. Alright, do I have your permission to discontinue the interview?
KJ Yes, you do.
MRR Thank you.
Indexing terms for the finding aid:
Atrium Medical Center
Children
Church
Dayton School of practical Nursing
Elementary Education
Johnston Hall
Library
Marriage
Middletown Regional Hospital
Non-traditional student
Nursing
Nursing degree
Otterbein
Oxford campus
Registrar’s Office
Snow
Springboro High School
Television
Thesken Hall
Transcript: Karen Jestice, December 2, 2016
Donation Record # Jestice.K.12022016
Transcribed by and approved for deposit by Marsha Robinson on 8/10/2018.
Copyright Miami University. All rights reserved.
MRR My name is Marsha Robinson and we are recording an oral history with Karen Charlton Jestice as part of the Sweet MUMories Oral History Project. This project marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Miami University Middletown, Ohio, campus. This interview is taking place on December 2, 2016, at the Gardner-Harvey Library. Mrs. Jestice, do I have your consent to proceed with this interview?
KJ Yes, you do.
MRR Thank you. So your connection with Miami University began in 1966. Could you tell us about the first idea of coming to this college?
KJ Well, when I was in high school money was tight in our family and I had won a scholarship at school and my scholarship was only two hundred dollars but that two hundred dollars actually paid for I think the first semester here at MUM, my books and the college education and everything so that helped and that was the main reason that I came here and I know some of my classmates that was the reason for them coming too because it was so convenient because it was so close to the town we lived in and just coming here and the cost I mean it was just very beneficial to have it and to start up we were very lucky.
MRR So, what high school did you attend?
KJ I graduated from Springboro High School.
MRR And the idea of having a college so close by was very important to your classmates?
KJ Oh, yes it was. There was, there were several students from Springboro that came here and I think they went the two years and then transferred to the Oxford campus.
MRR So, you started in 1966 and what was your major?
KJ I started out an Elementary Education when I first came here.
MRR What were some of those classes like?
KJ They were a lot of fun. The students were a close knit group and not only did I have my former classmates from Springboro but I met a lot of other classmates from Middletown and some of the other schools and we did study groups together. Some of the classes we did our activities together. I can remember going to a church and interacting with the children there and in one of the classes we learned how to play games with parachutes and that was new to me because I didn’t know, have any idea that you’d a parachute to interact with students. That was a lot of fun and we did that. And there was project we had to do where we had to make games and I can remember making bowling game out of Clorox bottles and putting sand, just a little sand in to keep them up and then you had a fairly large ball that the students could hit and knock the bowling pins over but it was very inexpensive and it was fun doing that.
MRR So how long did you stay at Miami doing that degree?
KJ I was here just for one year in Elementary Education and then I moved away for a year and then came back.
MRR Ok. Can you talk more about the close group of friends? Where did you sit to do your study groups? What was your favorite part of campus?
KJ Well, I really liked the library. We could come and we had to be quite of course in here but we could, we could sit at a table in a group if we wanted to and study together and ask each other questions or we had little cubicles we could go sit by ourselves. But I can remember sitting over in Johnston Hall close to where the Registrar’s office is and where the window was where you could look out the window and we would just sit on those couches and have little study groups and I think there was a TV up there too we used to watch the soap operas in the afternoon.
MRR So when you came back you did not graduate immediately from Miami. Were you going full time, part time? What was it that brought you to become an alum? Could you talk about that path?
KJ Yes. After I moved back I was married, I had children but I still wanted to continue my education so I started taking like a course at a time as I continued to work and eventually had, I think I had another year in Elementary Education but the funds were tight at that time so I inherited some money from my grandmother so I decided to go into nursing and I stopped the courses at MUM and I went to the Dayton School of Practical Nursing and became an LPN.
MRR And then you came back to MUM?
KJ Eventually I did. I worked at Otterbein and I started taking more nurses courses here at the campus to get my RN degree so I eventually took enough courses and got up to where I had to do the clinical part and took two full years to do clinical here and I did that, worked full time and eventually graduated from nursing in 1984.
MRR What was a clinical class like? What was that like?
KJ I’m sorry.
MRR What was a clinical class like?
KJ It was a lot of fun. We were learning but we learned on each other, I mean we had to give each other baths and, you know take each other’s temperature. I can remember doing the shots, when we did the shots of course we weren’t allowed to give each other shots but we practiced on an orange and doing that. We, I was trying think how many students was in my nursing class but it’s like we started and it was the same students for the whole two years and we got to know each other very well, we helped each other and especially when we went to the hospitals and the clinical settings not only did we have the instructor we had each other. We sat down and we’d talk about the patients that we took care of and it was a very good learning experience just talking with each other and learning how different people took care of the different patients and handled different situations and some of the things that came up.
MRR Would you say that your classmates created a sense of family to help each other through your program?
KJ Oh, definitely. I had to have surgery when I was a student and one of my friends because I think we were only allowed to miss three days at the time or you got kind of kick out of the nursing program until you could come back at a further date and I had had the surgery and the one friend of mine carried all my books everything so I didn’t have to carry my books.
MRR I’d also like to talk about what it was like to know you could be a nontraditional student and be accepted at MUM? What was that feeling like?
KJ I don’t know that it was any different because I think all the students here, most of the students here were in the same situation I was.
MRR Which was?
KJ Which was, I didn’t have the funds or the opportunity to stay on a campus, you know and stay in housing or anything and it was just so convenient to come here and drive to class and be able to go home at night, not worry about anything.
MRR And then what was one of the funniest things you recall from your time as a student here?
KJ Trying to get up the hill when it snowed because the roads slick and you had to start way down where Thesken Hall is now and go very slowly, keep your foot on the gas pedal and hope you got up the hill and if you didn’t then you were hoping there was nobody behind you because you had to back down the hill and try it again and there’s been times it took me three or four times to get up the hill.
MRR Would you mind telling us what it was like to be a nurse from MUM and to see the movement from the hospital on the hill in Middletown to the Atrium Center?
KJ Uh huh. I started working at the old Middletown Regional Hospital and I had several classmates and other people from MUM that I worked with and as much as I can recall everybody that worked at the old hospital transferred to the new hospital. We were really excited about getting the hospital and having all new equipment. We actually got an input into what was going to be in hospital. They asked us about the equipment, they asked us about the room setup, they asked us about the beds. I mean it was really exciting at that time so after we went to the new hospital, I’ve lost my train of thought. What was it you wanted me to ask about?
MRR You mentioned something about looking for a location for the new Atrium Hospital.
KJ Oh, ok. Yes, before they torn the old hospital down and while they were planning the new hospital I know there was a question about where the new hospital would be built. I know one was down on Greentree Road down around where Burn Nursery was and then there’s the location that they had I know for a long time we were wondering where the new hospital was going to be built but eventually they got everything worked out and I’m really glad that they put the hospital where it was. And I think it’s worked out well there and I know there was a lot of things in the newspaper too about the people of the community not wanting the hospital so far out away from town but I think it’s been a good location, I really do. I think the people have accepted it now so.
MRR Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like future scholars and researches to know about Miami University Middletown and what it means to the people?
KJ Well, I think it’s a beautiful campus. I think anybody that wants to come here I think the education that I received here is just as well as the education people on the Oxford campus are getting and in fact some of the courses that I had I had professors from Oxford that came over here to teach so I think the education on any of the campuses at Miami University are equal. I can’t, I have no complaints at all with the education that I got.
MRR Is there anything from the early years of the campus that you hope we continue to do in the next fifty years
KJ Oh. That’s a tough question. I don’t have any complaints at all from going here I would say that whatever they’re doing just to continue. I don’t know if there’s room to expand to put more buildings in or to offer, I don’t know how to say this, offer more courses in different areas because it’s been a long time since I’ve seen what you offer here. I don’t know what you offer, I’m sorry.
MRR It’s ok. But it’s important to have, for people to have access.
KJ Oh, I think it is, yeah and if I don’t know about this ever being a four-year college or not but that would really help the community if it was a four-year college.
MRR How so?
KJ Well, because I think you would have more people going here than going away to like Oxford or I mean the opportunity is here for the people of this area
MRR OK.
KJ I mean, if it had been a four-year college when I was going to school I probably would have continued on and got my bachelor’s degree.
MRR OK. Alright, do I have your permission to discontinue the interview?
KJ Yes, you do.
MRR Thank you.
Indexing terms for the finding aid:
Atrium Medical Center
Children
Church
Dayton School of practical Nursing
Elementary Education
Johnston Hall
Library
Marriage
Middletown Regional Hospital
Non-traditional student
Nursing
Nursing degree
Otterbein
Oxford campus
Registrar’s Office
Snow
Springboro High School
Television
Thesken Hall
Interviewer
Marsha Robinson
Interviewee
Karen Jestice
Location
Gardner Harvey Library, Miami University Middletown
Collection
Citation
“Sweet MUMories Oral History Project - Karen Jestice,” First to 50 - Miami University Middletown Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://mum50.omeka.net/items/show/1066.