In the three years that Jennifer Rymarz has been attending Henry Ford Community College, she's become a mentor, an editorial assistant, and changed the focus of her associate degree. She also does what most people would quickly become annoyed with: work with and attend the same college as her husband, Dennis.

Jennifer is a mentor for HFCC's Inside Track program, which provides new students with a mentor to help them become familiar with the campus and aid them in keeping on the right path with grades. While the average amount of mentees assigned to one mentor is 10, Jennifer currently has 12.

“This has been an awesome opportunity, and I am extremely grateful to Bia Hamed and everyone associated with the program,” said Jennifer. “I feel like I am part of a big family, and we share a common goal: to help new students adjust to the campus life in any way we can.”

Jennifer is currently the editorial assistant to Dennis Rymarz, editor of the Mirror News and Jennifer's husband. The couple has worked on their own publications together, but enjoys having an office, several computers and other members of the Mirror News to share the work with. In what would be a nightmare to most, Jennifer is happy to work alongside Dennis.

“We get along great... as long as he cooperates with me and does what I say,” she joked. “Seriously, he and I are the definition of a complementary relationship. One person's weakness is the other person's strength. We are each others' best friend, and other than my kids, my dog, or my cats, there is no one else I would rather spend my time with.”

While she initially pursued an associate in nursing, difficult classes like anatomy and physiology II have made Jennifer reconsider what kind of associate degree she wants. She is now considering counseling or teaching because either one of those degrees will help to get her further into mentoring or student affairs.

When she isn't on campus or doing homework, Jennifer enjoys spending time with her daughter (who will also be attending HFCC in winter 2011), walking the family dog and watching movies. She also enjoys the outdoors, visiting the Great Lakes, hiking, swimming, and chatting with friends and family.

Recently, both Jennifer and Dennis have participated in a haunted house as monsters. Since late September, they have enjoyed working at Erwin's Apple Orchard in South Lyon. Along with the Barn of Horror and the haunted corn maze, there is also a spooky barn for younger children during the day.

“This is the last weekend, and we will be working from Thursday through Sunday. At the end, we have a huge party for all the monsters to celebrate,” she said. “It's a great job and lots of fun, but I will not have a normal voice for at least another week or two.”