I have returned to college after being out of school for several years because, I am motivated to obtain my associates degree. I want to finish what I started years ago. When I was in high school, I became discouraged with my studies due to an illness and ended up dropping out of school. A few years after that I had an opportunity to return to school and obtain an Associate’s degree. When I started the program I was doing well until my illness returned. I found myself having a hard time juggling my school work, my illness and a job. I eventually started failing classes and ended up giving up again. At this point I had once again, let life’s challenges win the battle. Looking back, I understand that I failed when I returned to school because I wasn’t mentally prepared nor was I mature enough to deal with issues as they happened. Looking back at it now I understand that I made a terrible error permitting fear to take …show more content…
Currently I am a secretary for the Board of Education in NYC and the requirements to keep our jobs are always changing. When I got hired the only requirement was a high school diploma, prior reception experience, computer knowledge and the completion of several workshops. Within this last year many rules have changed, all new school secretaries will need to have a minimum of an associate’s degree in order to be considered for a position. Even though I am currently exempt from these rules, I do not feel confidant knowing I have not obtained my associates degree. My current goal is to obtain my associates degree. This degree will help me move ahead beyond a secretarial position and into a paraprofessional position. The degree does not need to be in any specific area in order for me to move forward into the paraprofessional position the fact that I will have a degree is what is
During my freshman year in high school, my mother remarried and I had to move from Colorado to Kentucky. One year later, we relocated back to Colorado after they divorced. During my junior year in high school, my mother remarried again and I had to change schools again, although we remained in Colorado. Thus, I did not have a sense of continuity during high school and although I recognized that my path would lead me to college, I was not ready to commit myself to school full time. Instead I went to work full time as a grocery clerk and worked my way up to assistant manager. I then moved into customer service work and finally fell into an advertising manager position. I took several night courses during this period until I was ready to commit to school full time. Although I could have continued with work, I knew that it was not what I wanted to do and once I committed myself to attending school and realized that I wanted to study Sociology, I have proven myself to be an above average student. This past year, I earned all "A"s in my courses.
This summer, after I was informed that I had been offered a teaching assistantship, I was terrified. I was not sure that I was capable of teaching students about a discipline in which I still possessed such a conscious doubt of my own abilities. For most of my life I was what you might call a non-achiever. When my parents strongly suggested that I enroll in college (the other option being to leave the house) everyone around me just sort of held their breath waiting for my inevitable failure. Then a strange thing happened. I passed my classes, and even enjoyed them.
One day while folding clothes, I saw a commercial sponsored by the President Barack Obama Ad Campaign that encouraged stay- at- home mothers and single mothers to go back to school to get their college degrees. President Obama is specifically assisting moms to go back to college by increasing federal stimulus monies as well as financial aid. Right then and there, I decided to go back to school to further my education and increase my chances of starting a career in the field I would be trained in. I wanted to be able to earn more than minimum wage in this already stressed job market. My decision to go back to school was not an easy decision. For the last seven years, I have been a stay- at- home mother and during that time I have often thought about going back to school and earning a degree. But, whenever the thought of going back to school crossed my mind I would feel as though I was neglecting my duties as a wife and mother. I also suffered from a paralyzing fear of failure that has always kept me from pursuing the possibilities of obtaining a higher education. After much prayer and discussion with my family, I finally made the decision to move forward with my plans to obtain a college education.
When it comes to the topic of college, Martin Espada, the author of "Why I Went to College," argues that college is a must and that if you do not attend college there will be consequences. In comparison, David Leonhardt, author of "Is College Worth it? Clearly New Data Say," also argues that college is very important to get a higher paying job than those who do not attend college. In contrast, Leonhardt also argues that college may not be the best idea considering the substantial amount of debt provided with college. My own view is more with David Leonhardt because I understand both sides of attending or not attending college with the positives and the negatives of the dilemma. This discussion is important in our society today because we constantly push the idea of college on to kids that may not even be ready for college or the fact that the debt may not be worth it; also the rise in the wage gap between college students and non-college students.
The path I have taken toward obtaining my Bachelor of Science Degree in Business, Management, and Economics, with a concentration in Marketing, has been different than I expected when I first started college. I started at Brooklyn College at 17-years-old and frankly, I wasn’t ready for it. I struggled to balance an awkward schedule of classes and inconsistent study habits. I never felt completely comfortable there and after two years of performing poorly, I enrolled at Kingsborough Community College. I viewed it as a new start and seized the opportunity. I decided to major in Business Administration; I made the Dean’s List, and saw my grades improve dramatically. After completing 74 total credits, I decided I was ready to return to a four-year-college. I initially considered returning to Brooklyn College but at this time my grandmother had become ill. I applied to the College of Staten Island which was near her home and would make it possible for me to help her out with whatever she needed and attend school locally. This worked out great for my first semester. I carried a 3.47 GPA and decided to major in Business, with a concentration in Marketing. At this time, I was working part-time while in school. But due to certain circumstances, I was forced to obtain a full-time job in addition to other part-time commitment. This made it very difficult for me to enroll in classes as most of the upper-level marketing classes that I needed for graduation were only offered during the day when I would now be working. I enrolled in night and weekend classes for the next two semesters but my grades began to suffer. In the last semester I tried to register at the College of Staten Island, I couldn’t fit the courses I needed into my ever-growing w...
Honestly college at this certain point in time does not seem worth it. Everywhere else in the world college is free but the United States. People would feel more motivated to go to college if it was free. College is the main reason Americans are having to live such a hard lifestyle. My father did not go to college and makes eighteen dollars an hour. On the other hand my aunt did go to college and make twenty-four dollars an hour but is still paying back student loans so after paying all of her stuff back she only makes around fifteen dollars an hour that she gets to bring back and that doesn’t include taxes. That’s the reason college doesn’t seem like a good choice to make in life.
“A generation ago, a high school diploma was considered enough prior training for beginning administrative assistant, and that is still the case in some offices” (Fulton-Calkins, Rankin, and Shumack 6) Administrative assistants have a big responsibility and have to have technical skills. (Fulton-Calkins, Rankin, and Shumack 6). You can obtain an associate’s degree in this selected field. Here at Wilson Community College the degree would be in Office Administration.
Throughout high school and during my undergraduate studies, education was never a top priority for me. Only during the past two years, in the "real world", have I realized the importance of education. I look back at those years and wish I had done more and realized all the potential I had in my hands and not wasted so much time. During my undergraduate career my social activities consumed my life. My friends were not motivated to do well in school so I followed their lead. My grades were low, and I did not even care. After I graduated in 1997 with a Psychology B.A. and lost touch with my old friends and old ways, I have realized that I should have spent more time doing some soul searching and thinking what it was that I wanted to do with my life. I liked Psychology but what I really wanted to do was work with children more closely. I had spent my junior and senior years involved in internships at Head Start and at a High School in a Program for teenaged mothers. I loved my work there. At Head Start I was a Teacher Aid for the pre-school, teaching the children to read, numbers etc. And at the High School I counseled the teenaged mothers, took care of their kids while they went to school and after the school day I tutored them with their homework. After being out of school for a while, I started to miss that. The feeling that I was teaching something those kids, the feeling that I was making a difference. I was determined to find a job in education, with my background in Psychology, how hard could it be? I found work at a residential school for runaways and abused teenaged females. It was great! I was ready to go, I was going to change the world and change those girls lives. What I didn't realize is that will alone does not make me a teacher and that I needed training, a lot of training. I made a lot of mistakes in that job. I got discouraged and decided to forget about working with children, forget teaching and do something else that paid more. So, I got a job as a Secretary, I did that for about two years. Teaching, working with children was always on my mind.
My college career started with me just going to school to take PE classes while neglecting my main required core classes and always pushing them aside without any urgency to succeed in finishing school. A couple of years would go by with little to no progress and lack of motivation to succeed in finishing my college required classes. Soon landing a career oriented job and finding myself dropping out of college to focus on my work career. From this point and time I would learn the importance of school and the value of finish college through my years of experience at work. This awareness of value in finishing college would motivate me to want to go back to school. Soon I would find myself at American River College counseling center. Here I was coming back to school unsure of myself and in an environment where I previously never found success in school. After meeting with my counselor I was recommended to take a college success course. This course is part of a program called the Accelerated College Education (ACE). Because I was able to learn along the years being out of school the importance of gaining an education I gained a new motivation for school, signed up for this ACE program, and enroll in the college success
When I made the decision to return to college to complete a bachelor’s degree in social work (BSW) I looked at many universities. I needed a university that was going to work with me not against me with the challenges of my already crazy life. Three challenges that I know I will be presented with during my time in school will be time management, distractions and support.
College is a very important thing. If you go to college you will most likely get better pay in your career. Also, with a college degree, you have more opportunities. I believe that everyone should go to college. If you don’t go to college and just go into some job and that fails then you have no backup plan. A college graduate is more likely to be offered employment than another who didn’t attend college, if you have a college degree you will make more money in your lifetime than someone who doesn’t have a degree, if you are considering having children having a college degree is very beneficial to them, you have a higher chance of having better health yourself, college is very beneficial, and if you go to college you will have a better social
Is a College Education Worth It? There are many people who believe that once a student graduates from high school, they are going to attend college for a higher and better education. But there are also people that have stated their opinion that a college education is not worth the amount of money needed, just to earn a piece a paper.
I believe everyone deserves a second chance, so I asked myself, "Why don't I?". I know that if given the second chance, I would succeed, I would reach my goals and pass my classes. Two years ago, I had negative influences in my life, and today I have rid myself of the negative and my life is filled with positive and supportive people who are encouraging me to go back and believe I can achieve anything. Now, I'm currently only working one job, and even though I am fulltime there, my boss is understanding and supportive of my decision to go back and is willing to work with me so that I am able to have time for school. I also have a small group of friends who are also returning to college and we have agreed to have study sessions twice a week every week to encourage each other and make sure we all succeed in
The abysmal completion rate I’ve begun this year with is the result of my failed year of college in 2001. To be short, I earned eight F grades in two semesters. I was obviously not prepared enough to succeed with
I took computer science and programming classes while I work full time in Safeway as a supervisor. Working in customer service greatly helped me to communicate and learned the culture. I also learned to be attentive through listening to their needs and be able to provide them the absolute service. Therefore, I also progress in willingness to learn. With my working experience, I learned to come out of my shell and keep progressing. However, in the last two years, there are so many obligations that I had to focus such as working full time while in school full time. Some of the years had been rough due to physically, mentally and emotionally exhaustion. Some of the quarters in school were greatly affected and led to failures because there are times I focused too much earning money to support my family and myself to survive and to have an education. It was hard to balance between work and school. Even though I failed so many times, I repeated some courses to be able to understand, practice and comprehend those classes that I failed. I believed that before success, I had to experience the pain and struggles of failures. For now, I am learning to be flexible in keeping up with all the responsibilities. I realized that people cannot get what they want or need because they have money, but because they