When it comes to higher education, Mary Bunge has charted a unique and remarkable course.
Bunge earned a bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 1994, 14 years after she began taking continuing education classes at night when her sons were teens. She left a full-time job to take day classes for two semesters to complete her Penn State degree, with honors, in business logistics.
Twenty-three years, a distinguished career and two grandsons later, Bunge is a full-time student at South Hills School of Business and Technology and still has a thirst for learning.
Out of respect, she uses “Mr.” and “Mrs.” when referring to her teachers, “even though they are much younger than I am.”
Of her return to the classroom, she said, “Once you get involved in learning, you get addicted to it. Once you find you can do it, you don’t want to stop.”
But Bunge did not return to school simply to gain more knowledge for knowledge’s sake. She has a very specific goal.
GOAL ORIENTED
“I would love to work for SATCOM,” she said, referring to the General Dynamics’ supplier of satellite and wireless communications products in State College.
To help her achieve that goal, Bunge is enrolled in the Administrative Professional Program at South Hills. She is finishing up her second of seven 12-week terms in the program (one term is an internship), which will help her become fluent in current computer software such as PowerPoint, Excel and other Microsoft products. As part of a social media class she even created a blog, www.memoriescapturedwithacamera.blogspot.com, to which she still posts.
Bunge’s journey to South Hills was filled with twists and turns.
She grew up on a farm in West Virginia and attended Marshall University. She met her future husband there, left school and started a family after moving to State College in 1964. She worked for General Dynamics for more than 22 years and Murata Electronics for five before leaving to finish her degree at Penn State.
After earning her degree and doing an internship at Corning, Bunge was hired at C-COR Electronics in the customer service department before moving on to become a freight coordinator there. She was laid off in November 2002, a result of the post-9/11 economy, she said. But, less than a year later, in June 2003, she was rehired by C-COR in customer service. Arris Corp. bought the company in 2007 and Bunge’s career continued there until she was again laid off in December 2013.
‘DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER OPENS’
Bunge found it difficult to find another job, in part because while she had experience, she lacked skills in the most up-to-date software.
But her return to school at South Hills was rather spontaneous. As Bunge describes it, she was driving by the school on Waupeleni Drive one day in September 2015 and a feeling led her to pull into the lot. She never really left.
“I just drove by one day and the next week I was sitting in a classroom learning,” she said. “It’s exciting to go to school here, it really is.”
Jeff Stachowski, South Hills’ director of outreach who worked with Bunge on the admissions process, said she “brings a work ethic that is just phenomenal.”
While like many nontraditional students returning to school Bunge was “a little unsure of herself, she goes into every day with her eyes wide open and her mind wide open. You couldn’t wish for a better student.”
As for Bunge, she’s enjoying the experience of being back in school.
“This is a part of my life I would have never planned,” she said. “One door closes and another opens. This is a door that opened that I never thought about.”
