Nontraditional student's life hectic at best
Teamwork at home smooths long days
By Colleen Ryckert Special to the Kansan
The alarm clock screams the arrival of 3:30 a.m. as a hand slides slowly out from underneath the warm blankets and searches for the snooze button to get five more minutes of sleep.
The day has begun for Lisa Connell.
Connell, Lawrence sophomore, is a nontraditional student majoring in criminal justice. In addition to taking 11 hours of undergraduate courses, the barely five foot tall, brown-haired woman works from 4:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday as a warrants clerk with the Lawrence Municipal Court. Into her already full schedule, she must also try to squeeze in quality time with her husband of 8 years, Lawrence police officer Scott Connell. That isn't easy. He works nights.
"Sometimes he's just getting up to go to work when I'm getting ready to go to bed," Connell said. "Then we just kind of say 'hi' in passing."
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A typical day for Connell has her working until noon. She has an hour to race home, grab lunch, change clothes and get to class.
She returns home and barely has time to catch her breath before warming up dinner. By this time, her husband is awake. They have a few hours together to catch up with each other before 8 p.m. Then she's off to bed.
"We are really careful about scheduling time together,"she said.
This is not Connell's first time as a student. She attended K-State in 1982 but decided to leave when she was forced to declare a major before she was ready.
"They put you in a room with 40 other people and say, 'OK, declare your major!'," she said. "So I picked accounting because it was first on the list."
She returned to Overland Park and attended Johnson County Community College for a brief time to study art, when she fell in love with her former high school classmate. She quit school again to get married. They moved to Minneapolis shortly after their wedding.
She added that the chaotic schedule hasn't put a strain on their marriage.
When the opportunity arose to return to Kansas, they jumped at it. Connell's husband had long been interested in law enforcement. When they moved back to
"Sure, we have our bad days," she said. "But when you only have three hours to spend with each other, you tend to appreciate the time you do get. I won't pick on him for leaving his socks in the bathroom."
"I only have five different recipes," she said, laughing. "I'm sure my husband is getting tired of eating spaghetti all the time."
Overland Park, he applied to the Lawrence Police Academy. He was accepted two years ago.
The weekends don't allow for much time together either. Connell's husband works part-time as a security officer on Fridays and Saturdays. She uses that time to clean house and run errands, so that when he is home, they can spend as much time together as possible. Connell also cooks all day Sunday, so they can have already prepared meals for the rest of the week.
Her brown eyes sparkled as she talked about her culinary skills.
Connell has always been interested in criminology. The position of warrants clerk became available six months after they moved to Lawrence. Connell said she loved her job and credited her employer for the ease with which she has adjusted to being back in school.
When Connell decided to return to school this fall, John Powell, Lawrence court administrator and Connell's supervisor, agreed to adjust her schedule at work. She is still able to work 40 hours a week and make time for classes and studying.
Powell speaks highly of Connell's performance.
"Lisa is very responsible and self-directed," he said. "She has demonstrated that she works well with little supervision. That is why she is allowed flexible working hours."
Powell said that Connell's self-determination is the reason she is successful in maintaining a tough work schedule.
Connell's other key to success is an amazingly understanding husband.
Scott Connell often does laundry, dishes and cooking on his days off. He even stood in line for an hour at the KU Parking Services office to buy his wife's parking pass when she was unable to leave work. Connell said he is her best friend, and Connell said that she would not be able to handle the full load without him.
"He pushes me when I try to blow off doing homework," she said. "He also helps me with my Spanish homework. He took the class before and remembers a lot better than I do!"
Time is so stretched in the Connell household that she says she doesn't dare watch television.
"I am a TV addict," she said, giggling. "If I start watching, I won't get anything done."
She mourns the loss of being able to watch "some really good mindless TV" whenever she wants. However, the one show that doesn't get missed is "C.O.P.S."
But the hardest part of returning to school hasn't been the loss of leisure time or the strain of coordinating two hectic schedules. It has been having to put off starting a family.
"I'll be 30 in January," she said. "We're both worried about waiting until later in life. But it will be better, once we're settled."
Connell spoke wistfully about how she and Scott want to start a family soon after they buy their own home.
If Connell is able to continue attending KU full time, she expects to graduate in two years. After she graduates, she said she would like to work as a profilist for the FBI. She finds the ability to determine an accurate personality profile from just a few clues from a crime fascinating.
She isn't receiving any financial aid, and her tuition money is coming out of the couple's savings. She shrugged her shoulders and said that maybe they could be ready to buy a home in a year or maybe in a few years.
She tapes the show on Saturday, and she and Scott watch it together on Sunday.
"But you never know," she said, laughing. "I may meet a forest ranger next week and say,'Hey, that looks like fun!'"
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LIFESTYLE • K-you • October 11, 1993