Music is blasting and the room is full of conversation. No, it's not a house party; it's Yokum 205 on Tuesday, September 13, where Lisa Newton is preparing to teach her final Personality class at Plattsburgh State University. The clock strikes 6 PM and Newton turns to the chalkboard to write the inspirational quote du jour: “I have discovered that I always have choices, and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude. Attitude is everything!”

“I just wanted to let all of you know that this will be my last class,” she announces. “I'm sorry that I won't be able to be here with you all semester, but I will be coming back home every weekend, and I'm a great courier, so if anyone has any friends coming up from the Poughkeepsie area, I'll be happy to give them a ride, so long as they don't smoke."

“I have discovered that I always have choices, and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude. Attitude is everything!”

Lisa Newton doing her best Cousin Itt impression

Newton, a lifelong Plattsburgh resident whose favorite aspects of the North Country include the natural beauty of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, works for the Social Security Administration. Teaching psychology is something she does on the side, just because she likes it. “I've always been interested in optimal development,” she says. “I like helping others grow and making a difference.” Two years ago, according to Dr. William Tooke, co-chair of the Plattsburgh State University psychology department, Newton's effort to make a difference was recognized. “Every year, an adjunct professor is singled out for excellence, and she won,” he says. “She was here for a long time; the students really liked her a lot,” he adds.

At the end of last month, Newton left her job as an adjunct psychology lecturer and claims representative in order to relocate to Duchess County for a year and start a management position within the Social Security Administration. Unsure how she feels about management, but excited to start a new adventure, Newton also pitches television shows. “It's called North Country Survivor. Each contestant gets a pink Volvo with a bumper sticker that says, ‘I'm gay, I'm a vegetarian, Country music sucks, I voted for Hillary Clinton, Hunting is murder, and I'm here to confiscate your guns!' They start in Utica and have to drive through Massena, Plattsburgh, Malone, and Dannemora, and the first one to make it back to Utica alive wins!” she says, playing on local stereotypes, as she jokingly relays a chain e-mail she received from a friend.

“I've always been interested in optimal development. I like helping others grow and making a difference.”

Newton's own personality, which she describes as “outgoing, friendly, easygoing, and happy, yet somewhat demanding with high standards” reflects the way she taught her Personality class, Psychology 340. Though her laid-back style of teaching, which she calls “theatrical” and “out-there," may have made the class seem like fluff to the naked eye, Personality was a hardcore class with 150-question tests and a ton of work. “The textbook is so abstract and unconnected. I try to be relatable,” she says, explaining the references to her family, which are often sprinkled throughout her lectures. Every week, Newton would give clues to the identity of her son Jake, a Plattsburgh State junior, and the first person to meet him would get a prize.

To see Lisa's results from this personality test, check the sidebar

“She's a great person; she's outgoing, understanding, funny, compassionate, entertaining, and she truly cares about everyone in the class, whether they're her teaching assistants or her students,” says Connie “Con Juan” Whalen, a PSY340 alumnus and teaching assistant, Plattsburgh native, and Zuke's sandwich girl. “Connie,” Newton calls, “thanks for buying these,” referring to a box of manila folders that Connie purchased for a class project. “How much do I owe you? You know what? Next weekend, tell Jake I said he has to buy you a drink,” she tells her former assistant.

Newton, an avid music buff whose favorite artists include Van Morrison, Dave Matthews, and Bob Dylan, likes the idea of a new learning experience, but will miss her home in the North Country. “I will miss the opportunity to connect with individual students,” she says. But on the bright side, there are always her students' friends in the Poughkeepsie area.

In the spirit of her Personality class, I thought I'd give Lisa a personality test. Here's how she scored:

Stability: 60 percent. Results are moderately high, which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Orderliness: 50 percent. Results are medium, which suggest you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable, while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun.

Extroversion: 86 percent. Results are very high, which suggests you are talkative, outgoing, sociable, and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Trait Snapshot: social, outgoing, worry free, optimistic, upbeat, tough, likes large parties, makes friends easily, rarely irritated, open, enjoys leadership, trusting, dominant, thrill seeker, strong, does not like to be alone, assertive, mind over heart, confident, controlling, feels desirable, likes the spotlight, loves food, social chameleon, hard working, concerned about others.”