The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Variety

Media Credit: RICHARD HAMM Judith Ellis poses for a portrait with some of her handmade pillows in her studio in Athens on Thursday. [Click to enlarge]

As an artist, docent and self-proclaimed francophile, 62-year-old undergraduate Judith Ellis is difficult to conceptualize. But perhaps that's the point - she wants to be her own person.

Judith enrolled at the University in 2002 when she and her husband moved to Athens after his retirement from the Navy. As an undergrad majoring in French, she attended the study abroad program UGA en France as a student in 2006 and as a volunteer mentor the year after.

"My heart is really with young people," said the non-traditional student who insists she be called by her first name. "The first year I went to France, they were like, 'Oh my God, what the heck is she doing here?' I told them, 'And don't you absolutely love me now?'" she said, laughing during an interview at the Globe. "What can I say - I won them all over."

Initially, however, the students were slightly unnerved with her age and confidence.

"Judith, being very outspoken and unapologetic, did not instantly bond with everyone," said Amanda Strickland, a 2006 University alumna who attended the program with Judith. "But after a few weeks, they came to love her and wanted to be around her to gain from her wisdom about French culture and life in general; Judith successfully bridged the generational gap."

Debbie Bell, the director and an instructor for UGA en France, said, "As a student, Judith was always very prepared and thorough. It's the difference I always see in students who are older; you just look at your education differently and appreciate it differently. In many ways, she is exactly what you want to have as a student."

Although Judith had studied French in high school and received an associate's degree in art and French at Colby Sawyer College - then a two-year school - she has always wanted to obtain her bachelor's in French.

"My long-term goal is to finish my degree," she said. "My dream is to graduate and somehow wiggle a position with a [mentoring] program."

Continued...

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