Capella University Decisions About Retirement Transcript Reviews Discussion

Capella University Decisions About Retirement Transcript Reviews Discussion

Question Description
Decisions About Retirement
The goal of this discussion is to identify influences that impact retirement and that are relevant to cultural differences.

The concept of retirement differs with cultural expectations and personal expectations. Even among compatible partners, it can be hard to arrive at mutually agreed-upon decisions. Our individual expectations may have been conditioned by our personal upbringing, by past experiences, and by lifelong involvement in the workforce. For example, a group of people in a small, remote farming community who have lived in a collectivist type of environment might have different perceptions of a successful life experience than those in an urban environment. These differences lead to different preferences for retirement arrangements.

After listening to the interviews in this unit’s studies (also in the Resources of this discussion), discuss the concept of retirement from the perspectives of collectivism and individualism, addressing at least the following questions:

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How does one’s perspective on community or independent living evolve?
What are the influences that affect decisions about retirement?
If you choose, you may use information from the articles and the optional Web sites in this unit’s study to support your response.

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INTERVIEW WITH EDITH DUNCAN
Presented by Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Tell me a little bit about your life experiences up to now, including where you came
from, and how you arrived at where you are today.
Jocelyn Sherman
I would like to introduce you to Edith Duncan who is a former middle school teacher and a former principal of
the Chicago Private School. I have a few questions for you today Edith. I would like you to tell me a little bit
about your life experience up to now including where you came from and how you arrived at where you are
today.
Edith Duncan
I was born to a single mom who was on welfare until I got to high school. And that was a very dicult but
happy experience if I can say. I guess it is because the way my mother raised me. Poverty is a very dicult
situation for one have lived it. But I was happy in it. It was a wonderful preparation, my mom even though she
was a single mom and on welfare, she believed in education and she would read us– my brother and I– she
would read poetry and would read stories for us. I was born in an era in which even though you would be on
welfare, we were taught, you know, working very hard together and how to come through dicult situations.
So I have to say when I was, well, was ready for rst grade I will say, it was because of my mom reading and
teaching us so that I was really ready for school. And I loved learning. But being in that situation on welfare,
that was dicult because children made fun of us and called us names, but in spite of that my mom taught us
how to react to these situations, always in a positive manner, not in a negative manner. Because my mom said,
just get your education and learn and do your best in school. You are going to be ne.
Jocelyn Sherman
So it sounds like your mom had a really strong integrity and a work ethic.
What were the most dicult challenges that you faced, and how did you handle them?
Jocelyn Sherman
So knowing that you faced dicult challenges, I wondered if you would share a few of these challenges that
you faced and how you have handled them throughout your life.
Edith Duncan
Well when you live in poverty there are many challenges, but let me just site a couple. With poverty, you learn,
rst of all you grow up very early and you are given responsibilities very early in life. And my, I really looked at
my mom, I learned a lot from watching how she went through the trials that she had done in working outside
the home for people and cleaning house. But even though my mom did many menial jobs, she did them well.
And in school my mom stood third in class. She was a brilliant woman. Had she been given the opportunities I
was given, I could see her, you know, a head of a school. But she was very humble and she worked with us in
the community because we lived in the, as you say, the poor part of town. So my mom said well, the children
need something to do. So she took us as, into scouting, as Brownies, and then into Girl Scouts all the way into
senior scouting. And my mom could not get anyone to go and help her to do this so she went by herself to
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, got her papers, acceptance to be a Girl Scout leader and she just had us doing things
all the time. So I constantly saw my mom doing things and keeping us out of trouble, so she kept us busy doing
Credits
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very positive things, and we had a wonderful time in, being Girl Scouts, all the way to senior scouting. And then
of course that stopped because we got interested in the boys and whatnot. So my mom just prepared me, and
of course she, my mom was strict, more strict on me in doing my schoolwork than the teachers were. So I had
to have my work [inaudible] because my mom worked, at times she got a dierent job from house cleaning
and went and worked, she was the rst black woman to be hired on the Middletown Air Force Base as an IBM
operator and she received awards for doing and making the machine do more than it was supposed to do.
And so I had those pictures, and so I am very proud of my mom and how she got, you know really, my, what
happened to me was really because of the example she was to me. When times got hard, and they were many,
she never gave up and she always told us to do the best that we can so that we can be what we want to be.
And that was my preparation. But my preparation really came from a single mom. And of course my the, for
my education, that came when I graduated from McDevitt High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and then I
got my degree from St. Xavier University in Chicago in teaching. And I also took some courses when I was
principal after teaching– boy, I have been in, let us say the teaching for about 50 years– and out of those 50
years, four was being a principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Health School in Chicago. I taught in Chicago a long
time, in the inner city. I chose to teach in the inner city because I felt that was where we were needed and I
chose to teach in Catholic school because I respected and I liked the curriculum and I liked how they always
inspired the children to reach for the highest goal. Not talk down or teach down or water down anything, but
to uplift and to aspire to come up. And I have, it just, I saw that the school produced, I would say 90% of the
children went to college from the inner city from, that graduated from our, the Catholic school system in
Chicago. And while I was principal, that was a challenge because I did not want to be a principal. I liked
teaching in the classroom but father wanted, he needed someone to take, to lead the school, and for some
reason he chose me.
When my daughter, an autistic, and I had her at the time when no one knew about autism. And so this was
very dicult for me. I had, you know, to go through, to deal with her being autistic, being single, and a lot of
people did not know about it. But I went through it because I felt that because she was my child and that with
love I could get through this with her so that she could function as a human being and be her best. And I can
happily say that she graduated from Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania and she
has a job and she is doing well. She is doing better than I am doing nancially, so I just wanted to add that in.
And the hardships came because I did it as a single woman, and believe me there were a lot of diculties that I
do not have time to spout here on this short interview.
What role do you think your gender, culture, and ethnic background played in these
challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman
I wondered if you could speak a little bit about how culture and ethnic background impacted the challenge of
you losing a husband at an early age and raising an autistic daughter by yourself.
Edith Duncan
Oh yes. Well, that was truly a challenge. I lost my husband at a very young, he was a young man, through a
heart attack. But in the mean, and he passed away when my daughter was three months. So there I was again
alone. I would always been alone even when I went through the teaching and all that. I was a single person
who went through all the diculties that came and the hard work that came as a single black woman. And so I
do not want to go through some of the things that the, I was born in a time of prejudice because that was in
the late 30’s and there was open prejudice then. And racism did exist then. But I am a, I have a tendency not to
look back at things that were very dicult because I like to move ahead. I have been that way. If I fall down, my
mom said it is not how many times you fall back, it is how many times you get up. So I kept getting up every
time I fell down. Or if I failed, I said okay I will have to go and do it this way and see if it can be better. So I dealt
with, and I was also, lived in the era and taught in the era of the Civil Rights movement. So I became very active
in that while I was in Chicago. And that was really some traumatic things. But then one march when Reverend
Martin Luther King was there in Gage Park which was segregated, and we did have a march and we had
protection of the police walking outside the line, and people calling names, and I was with the younger
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children in the march to open up Gage Park to become desegregated. It was very segregated in Chicago at that
time. But it worked. Right now it is, you know, integrated. So a lot of good things happened in the Civil Rights
movement. Out of the bad, can come the good. So I like to think of us going forward. I know in today’s times
this racism thing comes up, but I like to think there have been a lot of improvements in it. And young people, I
mean when you are, you know, working with young people, they are very open minded. If you are very honest
and truthful and open and, you know, you have spiritual values, moral values, things are going to work out all
right. And you just keep that spirit of the positive attitude, that we can do this. But there is – very hard work
that has to be put into this, and one has to be honest with themselves and deal with themselves because
today sometimes there is so much noise it can be confusing and you really cannot think things out through
and get them straight. So I think it is, you know, I see some negative things, but more positive things than I do
the negative. And I feel we will one day get back on track.
How do you think social structures aected these challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman
Would you say, Edith, that the social structures today aect the way you respond to challenges today?
Edith Duncan
Yes. I choose to meet the challenges that come up today, again, in a positive light, that things are good. And I
guess I like to see the best in people. Yes, I see sometimes some bad things coming out, but I think of the way I
have been conditioned, and I have been conditioned really through my childhood even through to my teenage
years into my you- into my young years as 20’s of going forth, always trying to improve. And the tragic things
that I came into, instead of seeing them in a dark light and in a negative light, I think they have made me
stronger. And as, and being single, I mean having really no one to talk to, and now that I am in my old age now,
I just, I can reect a lot. And I have learned to do a lot of reecting and thinking through all the things that have
happened which are, you know, you do not have time for to hear through a short interview. But I have learned
to do a lot of reecting. And I still have faith in people and I think there are a lot of good people out in the
world that wants to help people, help the younger people because they will be the leaders of tomorrow. But
we have to, I think, get through this– I see a disconnect today with people. I do not know if it comes from, we
are talking to machines, or I guess I am not that, the technological in education, but no, I am a very personal, I
like to deal people, with people face to face. I like to see them. I like to hear them. I like to see how they
respond so I look at their face. I cannot do that, like I am talking to this phone and I am talking to you at
distance. I am not as comfortable as I would be– and you know– if I were talking to you personally. No,
without interview or this little process through. I work very comfortably with a connection. I like to connect
with people. You know face to face, person to person. And what I see today, if I were like, in my coming up in
the culture, we always sat around the table and we talked about things. And my mom and I, we talked about
things all the time. I could talk to her about anything, but I could see her. I could see how she reacts. She could
see how I react, how I feel. And your feelings come through. But when I talk to a machine, I do not get that. I
feel if I were sitting down at a table now, I had young people around, they would be, their ngers would be
going on their, what do you call it? Their iPads and I would say you know and this would, I do not know, it just, I
just connect. I like to connect with people, and not through a machine. But that is the way it is.
Jocelyn Sherman
I think you pretty much answered my last question about how you think your age aects your relationships
because you have explained that technology is actually kind of throwing a little bit of a twist in relationships for
your age group, and with others.
Edith Duncan
I think it is good though. I think, I am not against technology. I am all for growth. Whatever comes through. But
what I have seen today is I see a disconnect. I see so much division. I see and hear things; this group, rich
against the poor and the blacks against the whites, and you know, the immigrants, illegal aliens. And it is like
we are all dierent and we are not. We are not. We are all one race. We are one race and that is the human
race. And we all have things to share. And if we do it together in unity, I think there is strength in that. There is
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strength in unity, but when you have so much division, it divides and we can be conquered by that because we
do not have that unity. This is what I mean by being connected. And being unied.
Subject Matter Expert:
Interactive Design:
Instructional Design:
Project Management:
CREDITS Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Marc Ashmore
Joe Lane
Laura Rosene
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
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INTERVIEW WITH DR. BOB HASSMILLER
Presented by Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Tell me a little bit about your life experiences up to now, including where you came
from, and how you arrived at where you are today.
Jocelyn Sherman:
And we welcome Dr. Bob Hassmiller with us today who is going to talk a little about his background. Tell me a
little bit about yourself, about your background and where you come from.
Bob Hassmiller:
Sure, I am your white middle class male who was born in Akron, Ohio which is basically an industrial town, and
was raised working in factories and other areas as I went through high school and even college. Paid for my
way through college. Went to public schools but also attended a parochial high school in Akron. And then went
on to Miami University in Ohio. I have a bachelors degree in government, a masters degree in counseling, and
eventually got my PhD in higher education administration. And had a successful career in both higher
education and non-for-prot management. Am technically retired but actively working in a whole host of
areas: volunteering for Red Cross, working for a nancial retirement group that has over a 100,000 subscribers
and doing other things that come with not being in quite the grind that I was with my career.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Wow, sounds like you have had a lot of opportunities with education and also with the dierent careers that
you have chosen.
What were the most dicult challenges that you faced, and how did you handle them?
Jocelyn Sherman:
What would you say were the most dicult challenges that you faced throughout your career and also even as
an adolescent perhaps or young adult? And how did you handle those challenges?
Bob Hassmiller:
I had an alcoholic mother who was pretty much alcoholic all through my high school and college years and
eventually it killed her. And so that, I think, impacted me a lot as I was aected by her addiction. In addition to
that, I guess I also was part of the era in which all of us after college got drafted into Vietnam. And so others
perhaps were able to continue their career right through high school and then college, but I spent two years as
a US combat infantry platoon sergeant, and was also shot over in Vietnam. And so I think that was a
particularly challenge, and then also as most people in my era, I had a failed marriage that I needed to deal
with. And all of those wound up being followed up, I think, with some success. I think my mothers addiction
helped me to better understand myself. The fact that I was in the service made me eligible for the GI Bill, which
basically paid for my masters degree and also my doctorate, along with work. And then I think I probably
became a better husband once I realized what I had done during my practice marriage, and so I have been
married for over 33 years quite happily now.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Well, congratulations on the marriage and thank you for the service that you have provided. Credits
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So it sounds almost like the challenges that you had really fed into and created opportunities for you, that
these did not become stumbling blocks for you but rather stepping stones toward success.
Bob Hassmiller:
Oh, I think absolutely. Before we go on to that, let us go back to your question because to a certain extent, I
would say that I did overcome those challenges, but I did not overcome them right away. In other words, it
took a long time for me to gure out just exactly what it meant in terms of my mothers alcoholism. In addition
to that, I came away with some pretty serious scars from Vietnam that took me a long time to overcome. And
the same way with failed marriages. I do not want to leave you with the thought that those were overcome
easily, because to a certain extent they were overcome after a lot of hard work.
Jocelyn Sherman:
OK, thank you for that clarication. A lot of determination and use of resources. And today’s hot topic word is
resilience. It sounds like although it took time, you used your resources and resilience to help you to achieve
the level that you are at at this point.
Bob Hassmiller:
That is right.
What role do you think your gender, culture, and ethnic background played in these
challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman:
Do you feel that your culture and ethnic background and perhaps your gender, played a role in overcoming
these challenges?
Bob Hassmiller:
Oh, there is no doubt at all that when you take a look at who I am, that I have been very blessed both in terms
of gender, culture and ethnic background. Having said that, you know, one of the ways of saying that is that
virtually everybody in the United States has won the ovarian lottery. You know, the chances of us being born
into the US are about 50 to 1. The chance of even those in the most abject poverty are just miles ahead of
someone who may have been born say in Bangladesh or someplace else. And so I think that when you talk
about individual destiny, or even meritocracy or wealth, that one of the things that anyone needs to remember
is that part of it is just the luck that we got in being born to where we are. And the real advantages are basically
taking your advantages and using them. And when you take a look at the challenges, having challenges and
overcoming them rather than succumbing to them. So I think all of those are important as you take a look at
that gender, cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
How do you think social structures aected these challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman:
So basically, I think what I hear you saying is that the social structures and what we are born into here will
allow us to achieve more, or have more opportunity, than if we were born into perhaps a developing country
where the resources may not be as plentiful.
Bob Hassmiller:
Exactly. It is all about how you compare yourself. And granted I am pretty much at the top of the heap any way
you look at it, being male, in the United States, born into an upper middle class family. But all of those things
are, it is important to know what you do with them rather than whether you succumb to them.
Jocelyn Sherman:
OK. Thank you for that.
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If I asked you to think about your personal identity when you were younger, and your personal identity now,
how might you say that the concept of yourself has changed over the years?
Bob Hassmiller:
I am not sure that it is changed as much as I just have more information to feed into it. In so many ways I was
young and dumb and cocky when I was in my 20s or even 30s. And part of it just came from either thinking
that I knew too much or not realizing how very little I knew. And I think as I have aged, rst of all I have made a
lot more mistakes and so I understand the nature of those mistakes and how I made them. And I have also
had the opportunity to perhaps think about those and try to determine what I can do with the talent that I
have in a more meaningful way. And so I think my concept of myself has been pretty steady. It is just the
experience and the maturity that I think makes me very satised with where I am right now.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Great, thank you. I just have one last question. How do you think your age aects your current relationships?
Bob Hassmiller:
I think it aects those relationships sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. I mean, I have to laugh.
My daughter is about to give birth to my rst grandchild. And so to a certain extent my daughter now really is
interested in improving the way that she raises kids as compared to what we did. And so she looks upon me
as, look at all those mistakes I had, and look at all the opportunities that she has in order to do better. And I
think that is great, and I think that is the way the lot of younger people view what we did. Oh sure, it is great,
but now it is my turn. On the other hand, there are lots of folks, American Red Cross and my Motley Fool
retirement group and others, who really take a look at what I have done and how I can explain it, and use me
as a resource or a mentor or at least someone to bounce ideas o of. And so I think that is a real positive
relationship at least for me. And so, you know, there are always going to be dierent people who look at you
dierent ways based on your age, and I think that is just something that you have got to realize is always going
to be a little dierent.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Thank you very much for your insight and your perspective. Our course on human development emphasizes
all stages of the human as they grow. And it is interesting to see that as we age, sometimes we have this
negative perspective, but there are so many positive things out there in our relationships and what we can do
with our time and with our talents. So you are a great example of that. Thank you very much, Dr. Hassmiller,
for your time and your perspective.
Bob Hassmiller:
You are most welcome, Jocelyn. Thank you.
Subject Matter Expert:
Interactive Design:
Instructional Design:
Project Management:
CREDITS Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Marc Ashmore
Joe Lane
Laura Rosene
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
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INTERVIEW WITH LILY KREITINGER
Presented by Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Tell me a little bit about your life experiences up to now, including where you came
from, and how you arrived at where you are today.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Hi, Lily. Tell me a little bit about your life experiences up to now including where you came from and how you
arrived at where you are today.
Lily Kreitinger:
Well, I am a Mexican citizen, and I am a permanent resident of the United States. I was born and raised in
Mexico City in a middle-class suburban family. So we attended a bilingual private school, and it was really
great. I loved going to that school. My school teachers were native English speakers, which is how I learned
English when I was in fourth grade. And I loved everything about American culture back then because we
learned everything through school. We had talent shows, and we had bake sales, and we celebrated both
English — or American and Mexican holidays, and I really got to learn a lot about life in the United States. I had
pen pals; I had — we had student exchanges from one school to the other. It was really a good way to get
exposed to the culture back then. I loved watching movies with no subtitles, and I loved checking out books
from the library; Ramona the Brave was my all-time favorite.
And we came up with all kinds of fun ideas when we were not in school. My brother and I did a lot of science
experiments, talent shows on our own, and ant farms, so I really had a happy childhood. After that my teenage
years were pretty normal and uneventful, just the normal teenage stu. And I attended a private high school
and then a small teaching college, and graduated with a Bachelors degree on Special Education for learning
disabilities.
After that I started a practice with one of my dear college friends, and we worked together for about two years.
And we were making absolutely no money so I changed career paths, and I always ended up in something
related to education. I always liked training in corporate settings and education environments, so that is what I
have always done because I love to learn, and I love to teach, and I love to write.
So in 2003 I had been a little tired of the single life, and I got on this online dating site back when it was not
cool to date online. So I met this amazing guy, and he turned my life around when he asked me to marry him
after us exchanging emails, and phone calls, and visiting with one another. So I quit my job, sold my car, and
said goodbye to my family and friends, and I moved within a year of having met him. So after a few months of
tears and prayers I got my immigration documents ready, and I was ready to start my new life in the United
States. For the past nine years I have been able to build a solid career, a great marriage, and raise two
wonderful kids. And we love our family life in an environment where we can combine city life and country life.
We relocated to the Twin Cities a couple years ago, and that is what we do; we work in the city, and then we
live out in the country, and it is all great.
Jocelyn Sherman:
It denitely does sound like the best of both worlds. Credits
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What were the most dicult challenges that you faced, and how did you handle them?
Jocelyn Sherman:
What were the most dicult challenges you faced, and how did you handle them?
Lily Kreitinger:
You can probably imagine moving yourself from a familiar environment into a whole dierent country without
knowing anyone was quite challenging. So the process of immigration itself had all kinds of things that we had
to deal with from paperwork, and they lost my le, and they lost my case, and I got rejected a few times for
documents. So that whole process took over the rst few months of my life in the United States, actually the
rst couple years.
After I had moved from Mexico City to New Mexico my husband lost his dad to cancer, and then he lost his job.
So we sold our house; we moved to Detroit so he could start — so he could join a start-up company, which I
think is three dumb ideas rolled into one. And then the start-up did not start, so when we were on our way to
Detroit they were trying to contact us and let us know that there was no funding for this company and that we
should not come, but it was already too late. We had packed all our stu, and we decided to stay in Michigan
and wait it out. We actually were kind of naive thinking, “How hard can it be to nd a job in Detroit?” This was
back in 2004, so we were in for a surprise. So things seemed to be slowing down, and nally we got the job
that he needed; I got a really good job, and when things seemed to be settled down with all the immigration,
things going on the right track, we got notice that my dad had been diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer.
So at that time I was not allowed to travel to Mexico because of the immigration process constraints, and it
was really dicult for us. So we just had to wait it out again and talk to my family a lot. Finally one day I got the
stamp on my passport that said I could travel and I could work, and I was able to visit with my family for a few
times before my dad passed away. So before he died we were able to share with him that we were expecting
our rst child.
Five months after my dad passed away we welcomed our dear daughter Emily and we knew that we really did
not want to raise a family in Detroit much longer, so we packed up and moved again. This time we moved to
Stoughton, Wisconsin, and that is where we welcomed our son Matthew into our family in August of 2010.
When he was eight months old we planned one more move, this time to the northern suburbs of — suburbs of
Minneapolis. So we handled all of these changes by keeping strong in our faith, by taking care of ourselves,
and also taking care of our mental health, physical health, and growing friendships with like-minded people
that have really become our family.
What role do you think your gender, culture, and ethnic background played in these
challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman:
What role do you think your gender, culture, and ethnic background played in these challenges?
Lily Kreitinger:
The way I see it, my background prepared me for everything that I have faced and that I just described. For
example, being in this bicultural school when I was a child truly prepared me to be exible in a dierent
cultural environment, and I am so thankful that my parents made that decision for me. My mom and dad had
a very strong marriage. They were married for 36 years, and they were faithful and true to their love until the
very end. Even when my dad was really sick I could tell how devoted they were to each other, and that truly is
the way I want to model my own relationship with my husband.
I also learned to accept and learn from dierences in people and not judge people right away, and I know that
not only knowing the language but knowing how dierent people live in dierent ways really has helped me
face many challenges like I described. We had many losses in a few — in the rst few years of our marriage. We
have faced the most stressful situations for people that some people take a whole lifetime to face, we have
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faced them already. We have lost three of our parents; my mom is the only grandparent who survives. We
have moved multiple times; we have been unemployed, switched jobs, received kids into our life, and all those
things. Denitely I see that my strong sense of family that comes from being Hispanic has helped me cope with
all those changes and losses. And most of my days I really do not think of myself as an immigrant. I see myself
as a contributing member of the American society, and the next step in this process is to become an American
citizen in the near future.
How do you think social structures aected these challenges?
Jocelyn Sherman:
How do you think social structures aected these challenges?
Lily Kreitinger:
I have to say that I do not know how I would have gotten through all of it without networks of support through
all these dierent times in — in our life. For example, when we were unemployed in Detroit we joined a group
of career transition people. We went through a class that was oered through church, and then we — my
husband and I led this group for I think eight to 12 more weeks after the class was over just helping each other
through the challenges of seeking employment. Then we attended free activities oered through the
community just to take care of ourselves. We joined the local high school to exercise. We attended the local
church daily. So all those things were crucial in that time of seeking employment in a very dicult economic
environment.
Then when we moved to Wisconsin after my dad’s death I joined a group called Mothers of Preschoolers, and
these new friends helped me through the task of being a new mom in a new town after the recent loss of my
dad. After a few months of being there I really had true friends. And then we moved to Minnesota after a
couple years of living in Wisconsin, and I lost my part-time telecommuting job. I really liked the company I
worked for, and I loved my job, but you know how it goes with a lot of job cuts and all that — those things, so I
lost my job. So then I am again in a new town, no network, with two young children, trying to look for work. So
I just grew a dierent kind of network, and I went online; I started blogging, and I found an online community
of people who have supported me for the past two and a half years, and it has been incredible. So I see all
these networks of people around me that I always plug into because that is one thing that I have learned being
an immigrant is I have no friends and family that I grew up with, so I need to be intentional about building
those relationships. And using all these strategies now I have a fullling career with Capella Learning Solutions,
and I work with great people, and they have become part of that same network.
When you meet someone new today, what kinds of things do you think they notice
rst?
Jocelyn Sherman:
When you meet someone new today what kinds of things do you think they notice rst?
Lily Kreitinger:
Oh, they just notice how gorgeous I look with this Hispanic deal going on. No, I am just kidding. I really think
the rst thing that surprises people is that I am an immigrant. Most people do not know this about me until
they get to know me a little better. They usually ask me, “How do you get everything [laughter] you get done
with a full-time job, a full-time husband, and two full-time kids, and a long commute to work, and all those
things?” Well, I just say I do spend a lot of time on the train commuting to work, so I get a lot done that way.
And I really have intentionally used my commute time to learn, read; I listen to podcasts; I have read a ton of
books since I started working here. I think — I have lost count, but its over 50 books that I have read probably
in the past two years. So I do spend a lot of time growing myself to be able to be more eective in my
relationships and at my work.
How do you think your age aects your current relationships?
12/4/2019 Transcript
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Jocelyn Sherman:
How do you think your age aects your current relationships?
Lily Kreitinger:
You see, I am in a very interesting life stage. My mom when she was in her 40s she was raising teenagers. I am
going to be 41 years old pretty soon, and I am raising a preschooler and a kindergartener, which means its an
entirely dierent story, and that model that I had in my mom really had to ip in my head. I can relate to young
moms with very little kids and newborns. And I have friends who have six, seven kids, and they are
homeschoolers. I can relate to them because of being a mom. And I can also relate to people who are really
experienced, and that I work with, and who are about 10, 12 years older than me at least. And I think more
than my age I truly believe its my personality prole. I am an extrovert; I have a high interpersonal component
in my personality, so I love to coach people; I love to connect with people, and connect people with one
another. I think that is mainly what enriches my current relationships, and I say that I am young enough to
engage in social media, and I am old enough to remember what life was like without it.
Jocelyn Sherman:
Well, your passion for living certainly comes through, and meeting challenges along the way certainly comes
through. I really appreciate you taking the time to have this conversation and to ll us in a little bit about your
life. Thank you very much Lily. Best wishes.
Subject Matter Expert:
Interactive Design:
Instructional Design:
Project Management:
CREDITS Jocelyn Sherman, PhD
Marc Ashmore
Joe Lane
Laura Rosene
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.