I am a nontraditional student who graduated from EMCC in May of 2012. I’ve actually been a nontraditional student for many, many years. My first nontraditional foray into higher education was in 1980, when I was 16 years old. In retrospect, this was not a great move as I was too distracted to achieve any success in a college environment. When I turned 18 years old, my parents retired and, moving onto their sailboat, left for warmer climes. I became a roving teenager. I moved to several different states and had many different jobs. Overall, I had a pretty fun time and some questionably legal adventures. During this period (about a decade, give or take) I hopped in and out of schools several different times. By my mid twenties, I decided it was time to settle down.
I got married at 27 and had two children, who are 16 months apart. When my marriage ended, my kids were 2 and 3 ½. I knew I needed to do something to be able to support them. I sold real estate for a while and ran an art gallery, among other things. I went back to school, yet again, but found it to be overwhelming with two kids under 10 years, a full time job, bills to pay, etc. I decided that school would have to wait until my kids were older.
Finally, the kids made it to high school. I thought “this is now the time to pursue my education.” I applied to EMCC, had all of my transcripts sent from various schools, and signed up for classes. I was determined to get into the nursing program. I worked really hard that first year, and did well in all of my classes. This was quite an accomplishment for me because I was taking a lot of science courses, something I hadn’t done since junior high school. At the end of my first semester, I applied for the nursing program. I took the entrance exam, and did well on it. In February, I got my acceptance letter. I actually cried tears of joy when I received it in the mail that day. To make a long story short, apparently nursing was not for me (at least that was the impression I got from others). So instead of graduating with my nursing degree, I graduated (with honors) with a degree in Liberal Studies.
After graduating with my AA, I enrolled at UMA, where I am completing my Baccalaureate in Liberal Studies, with minors in biology and secondary education (and possibly English, if I can rack up enough credits). I hope to complete my studies within about a year. I am looking forward to teaching at the high school level. Teenagers are way too fun!
Ha, so being non-traditional is your own personal tradition! Doesn't sound as if you've had a traditional student moment ever....
ReplyDeleteWhat would you want to teach in hs? Bio? Fetal pigs and frogs? Ewww, Ms Martin, ewwww!
Okay, so here's the kicker! The only reason for the bio minor is because I had so many credits from my nursing prep that the requirements were fulfilled with my transfer credits. So what the hell - might as well have it! I want to teach English, but will probably take praxis II for both. There is a part of me that thinks teaching science might be a good thing to do simply because I know from personal experience how hard it can be for some students. Also, I really don't mind slicing and dicing eyeballs, etc.
ReplyDeleteAs to nontraditional- alas...it seems to be my lot in life. Others find it far more interesting than I do. Probably because for me, it is the norm!
Teaching English, ewwwww, even worse than dissecting pigs. Teaching, ahem, writing, now that's the way to go.
ReplyDeleteI would love to teach writing. Can I make them read, too? I guess I have to wait to see if the writing gods deem me worthy!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with teaching literature for me has always been that I love the books too much to see them hacked up by students, and I love them too much to see them reduced to systems of symbolism, theme, technique, etc by boring literature professors. I guess I just don't think literature is a fit topic for classrooms.
ReplyDeleteWriting is different. The student is creating something, not picking over the bones of someone else's work.