Alumni Spotlight: Lynne Schmidt ’10, M.S.W. ’20
The Alumni Office recently caught up with author Lynne Schmidt, B.S. ’10 (Medical Biology), M.S.W., ’20, for a spotlight in the UNE Magazine. Read on to learn more about Lynne’s experiences and passion.
How did you choose UNE?
I first came to UNE in 2006 and completed the Medical Biology undergraduate program. I knew I wanted to come to the East Coast (I’m from Michigan), but, I didn't know what that looked like or really where I wanted to go. When I filled out my tests in high school, they asked, “Where do you want your information to go?” I just filled out a ton of East Coast schools and UNE followed up with a packet showing seals and sea turtles on the cover. That was what sold me and how I made my decision.
Describe your career path and key professional choices to this point?
I actually came UNE on a pre-veterinary track. I got an internship at a veterinary clinic and started to realize that I really didn't want to be around sick animals all the time. So, for my undergraduate degree, I majored in something that was not my strength. I majored in the sciences. But I tried really hard. I tried to study a little bit more. My GPA wasn't what I wanted it to be, but I did it. I completed the program.
When I came back to UNE, instead of a sciences degree, I found my way to social work. I had moved to the Outer Banks of North Carolina after graduation. I moved back to Maine to become a snowboarding instructor and worked a second job at Rite Aid. One of my regular customers approached me and wanted me to come work with them at a crisis response agency. So, I submitted my resume and had an interview. That’s how I started with social work.
Ironically, through my master’s work, I was able to intern with equine-assisted therapy — it all tied back to my undergraduate degree. My dream now would be to partner with an animal shelter and match clients to their dogs and bridge that gap of emotion with support animals and say, “This is how we recognize when the dog is uncomfortable. This is how we recognize when to give them their space. How do you react when your dog reacts like this? What does this bring up for you? How do you feel safe in these moments, and how do you keep your dog safe?” And that's really what I would like to do with my M.S.W.
What kind of general advice would you have for others who are trying to figure out what to do with their passion?
I think the best advice that I can give somebody is to trust themselves. I refuse to settle for a circumstance where I'm going to be unhappy. I refuse to settle for a circumstance where the work environment is going to be toxic or harmful to me. There are always other places to go. There are so many possibilities in social work that, if something isn't fitting, there is another avenue, and you have to keep looking for it.
How did your time at UNE impact you as a student, a person, and a professional?
One thing that that really impacted me at UNE was my work in publishing for the Zephyr magazine. School was challenging, but Zephyr came easily; I was published all four years I was at UNE in undergrad.
More about Lynne’s Writing
Lynne continued to write for UNE after completing her undergraduate degree as a contributor to the Spring 2014 UNE Magazine. Her talents are reaching beyond the UNE Community. “I've always written — it's just what I've always done. I never took it seriously until 2018.”
Most recently, Schmidt won the 2021 Sandy River Review Winter Contest and the 2021 The Poetry Question Chapbook Award for her collection, “SexyTime.” Schmidt is the winner of the 2020 New Women’s Voices Contest and author of the chapbooks “Dead Dog Poems” (Finishing Line Press), “Gravity” (Nightingale and Sparrow Press), which was listed as one of the Best Breakup Books of All Time by Book Authority, and “On Becoming a Role Model” (Thirty West), which was featured on The Wardrobe’s Best Dressed for PTSD Awareness Week.
Schmidt has been published in over 100 literary magazines, and her work has received the Maine Nonfiction Award, Editor’s Choice Award, and was a 2018 and 2019 Pacific Northwest Writers Association finalist for memoir and poetry respectively.
The award-winning publication "Dead Dog Poems" is available on at the Barnes and Noble and Bull Moose websites. "SexyTime" is available at https://poetryquestion.gumroad.com/l/sexytimephysical