LINDA VINCENT SPENCER '78

Dartmouth's telegenic survivor on thriving on adversity

"GROWING UP ON WELFARE WAS WHAT I KNEW. Everyone else in my neighborhood in Bostons South End was poor, too. I'd watch programs like The BradyBunch and think life like that probably wasn't just on television."

"DARTMOUTH WAS THE FIRST PLACE I MET BLACK PEOPLE WHOSE PARENTS WERE PROFESSIONALS. I remember one woman talking about a 'pool party' and thinking she meant tables. I didn't know anyone who owned their own swimming pool."

"I GOT OUT IN THREE YEARS BECAUSE IHAD TO. It was too weird an environment. I found it racist, sexist and classist. I left angry. A few years ago Id have said I wouldn't want my children to go there; now, I'd say, 'Why not?' I'd be proud if my kids were to attend Dartmouth. I realize it shaped a lot of who I am."

"I GOT MY COUNSELING DEGREE BECAUSE I WANTED TO HELP KIDS WHO'D GROWN UP LIKE I HAD. I became disillusioned when I realized families weren't being helped."

"I DECIDED TO CHECK OUT CORPORATE AMERICA BECAUSE I WANTED A BRIEFCASE AND A BUSINESS CARD. I wanted to wear heels."

"HAVING BEEN A COUNSELOR AND A CAREER CHANCER ARE ASSETS IN MY JOB. I'm good at recognizing the students who don't need career counseling, but therapy, to figure out who they are. A lot of them are afraid of making the wrong choice about what they'll do next. It's our job to make them realize that can't happen. They'll have many changes in their lives."

"I'VE HAD FOUR VISIONS THAT THEN HAPPENED TO ME: meeting someone special to marry, having a serious illness, standing on a mountain top and experiencing some kind of fame in my 40s. I've also seen myself delivering babies in Africa in my 50s or 60s."

"I LEARNED ON MT. RAINIER THAT THE PAST DOESN'T DETERMINE THE FUTURE. Not summiting when I tried in 1997 and becoming ill from the altitude made climbing Mt. Rainier after my cancer treatment in 2000 possible. Some people on the trip were very macho and talked about attacking the mountain; my feeling was that the mountain determines who will reach its summit."

"I CAME BACK FROM DOING SURVIVOR NOT SO THRILLED ABOUT MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. Before I went I was more into doing than being. Now I'm getting from yoga what I used to get from climbing."

"I APPLIED TO BE ON SUROTVORWHEN MY FAMILY SAID OK. We filmed my application video in the back yard on the day of a big snowstorm. I had my ice ax and crampons. I set up my tent. My daughter held up my cue cards and my husband did the filming. Id thought a lot about what I wanted to say. I had 10 marketing points."

"I WAS VERY SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE SHOW BEFORE I LEFT FOR AFRICA. I'd have bet money that off screen CBS had big buffet tables of food and make-up artists. It was a wonderful surprise to find they had nothing. We had one change of clothes, period."

"SO MANY CAST MEMBERS ARE TRYING TO EXTEND THEIR 15 MINUTES OF FAME. Survivor was the most exciting experience of my life, but I put a bow on the experience and put it on a shelf."

JOB TITLE: Assistant director, career services, Harvard University. Previously middle school teacher and counselor; corporate account executive for Nynex and Xerox EDUCATION: A.B. sociology; M.Ed.,Tufts University '78; M.S.W., Boston College '82 PERSONAL: Husband Jim; children Jared and Jenna; brother James Vincent '73 NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: Appeared on TV reality show Survivor: Africa (fall 2001) for four episodes before being voted off; traveled through Africa with a femily-planning clinic rather than biding time as guest of CBS at a luxury resort