When Margaret McCollough graduates from the University of Maine at the institution\u2019s 213th Commencement on May 9, her immediate family will hold nine degrees from the university.<\/p>\n
\n
McCollough, who will earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in sustainable agriculture, is the daughter of Catherine Elliott and Mark McCollough of Hampden, who met at UMaine in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
Elliott, a sustainable living specialist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, came to UMaine in 1980 to pursue a master\u2019s degree in wildlife management, which she completed in 1983. As a student, she met her now-husband, Mark McCollough, who also was working on a master\u2019s in wildlife management, which he earned in 1982.<\/p>\n
The pair stayed at UMaine to complete their doctoral degrees in wildlife. Mark McCollough earned his Ph.D. in 1986 and Elliott earned hers a year later.<\/p>\n
In 2011, the couple\u2019s son Aaron McCollough completed a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer and electrical engineering while also a student of the Honors College. He continued at UMaine to earn a master\u2019s degree in computer engineering in 2013. While pursuing that degree, he became engaged to Morgan Burke, who completed her bachelor\u2019s degree in wildlife ecology in 2012 and brought the family\u2019s degree total to seven.<\/p>\n
Margaret McCollough\u2019s boyfriend Garth Douston, who she also met at UMaine, has a bachelor\u2019s degree in sustainable agriculture, which he earned in 2014. With Margaret McCollough\u2019s graduation, the family will hold nine UMaine degrees among six members.<\/p>\n
\u201cMargaret\u2019s graduation will be wonderful,\u201d her mother says. \u201cGoing to college was not at the top of her list of things to do when she completed high school, so having her graduate from a program she has loved is incredible. And to have had her at UMaine for the past four years has been icing on the cake. We are very proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Margaret McCollough says she hadn\u2019t planned to go to college after graduating from high school. She worked for a summer on a couple of farms out west before she discovered that UMaine had a sustainable agriculture program. She decided it was time to make a change and came back to enroll in the program that fall semester.<\/p>\n
The program provided her with opportunities to network and build relationships with those already working in agriculture throughout Maine, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be a good farmer you have to have a good working understanding of multiple disciplines. It won\u2019t happen for you just out of a love of nature and an ability to do physical work. UMaine has provided me with a breadth of knowledge and analytical skills that will certainly serve me well as I work to build both a sustainable and profitable farm,\u201d Margaret McCollough says.<\/p>\n
Margaret McCollough and Douston now run Sweet Thyme Farm in Arundel, Maine. This past summer was the pair\u2019s first season. They planted about 1.5 acres of crops and plan to add another acre this year. The farm, which has been certified by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), produces a variety of vegetables and some herbs, as well as raises ducks and chickens for eggs.<\/p>\n
Margaret McCollough credits two student-run agricultural programs for giving her and Douston the confidence to start the farm. For two summers, Douston managed the Black Bear Food Guild, a student-run community supported agriculture (CSA) program; and she managed UMaine Greens, a winter greens production program run by student volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth of these programs require those students who participate to take on a lot of responsibility,\u201d she says, adding they allow students the chance to grow at production scale while managing customers and co-workers, meeting deadlines, staying on budgets and keeping accurate records.<\/p>\n
Margaret McCollough says UMaine has allowed herself and her family to do work that makes them happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom, dad and older brother love the work that they do; they\u2019re so passionate about their disciplines, and also really good at what they do,\u201d she says. \u201cI will feel proud to join them in doing good work in a field that I feel really passionate about. I know that my parents are really proud of my brother and I; recognizing the value in education.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Elliott, Margaret McCollough\u2019s mother, was finishing her Ph.D., she was hired as a research associate in the Department of Wildlife Ecology. After graduating, she became a faculty member with UMaine Cooperative Extension. By June, Elliott will have been employed by UMaine for 29 years.<\/p>\n
Elliott\u2019s husband Mark McCollough works on endangered species recovery at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service\u2019s Ecological Services Maine Field Office in Orono.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents still gather with a large group of friends that they made while studying here, and they\u2019ve become mentors and basically extended family members to my brother and I growing up,\u201d Margaret McCollough says.<\/p>\n
Aaron McCollough and his fiance Burke live in Manchester, New Hampshire where Burke is pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy at Franklin Pierce University. Aaron McCollough works for L-3 Insight as an embedded software engineer. They will be relocating to Portland, Maine in June while Burke does clinical rotations to complete her degree.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Margaret McCollough graduates from the University of Maine at the institution\u2019s 213th Commencement on May 9, her immediate family will hold nine degrees from the university. McCollough, who will earn a bachelor\u2019s degree in sustainable agriculture, is the daughter of Catherine Elliott and Mark McCollough of Hampden, who met at UMaine in the 1980s. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
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