I have been going "back to school" for over 20 years; right around the time I had my son. I actually started taking classes while I was pregnant then again after he was born. Going back to school was definitely hard not just because I had an infant at home but also because I still did not know what I wanted to do when I "grew up". At age 22, I was certainly not too old to be in school but I was too old to be just starting to figure it out. I had a child to raise so of course I had to make an attempt at learning something and something that would get me a job where I could support him.
It was difficult when I began school because I was not very decisive about what I should take. I discovered the Women's Re-Entry Program at Cabrillo College, which was designed for women who had already had careers or had been stay-at- home moms and were looking to learn something new. Well again not sure what I wanted to learn but I knew I liked working in an office environment and wanted to learn more about computers. I entered the Business Office Technology Certificate program which taught everything from filing to small business accounting. After two years and straight A's I finally finished round one of "Kristen Going to School Redux".
Fast forward about 22 years later and I am back at it again. In between then and now I had been taking classes here and there to cover my general education but now it is really time to "getter dun". I don't want to be a career student, I want a career. I want a place that I enjoy going each day (ok I will be honest, enjoy going most of the time). What does that look like, I am not sure yet. God has a plan for me and I am waiting for him to bring me in on the secret.
After listening to Air1 radio station I heard an advertisement for a program called School of Professional Studies at William Jessup University. This program is designed for working adults wanting to change or improve their careers. I think I fit into that category...well accept the working part because I am currently not working...what a great time to change careers. Let me go back a few years when I heard about a very similar program at Bethany University which is conveniently only about a mile from my house. What I needed to do first before entering that program was to get more general ed courses under my belt first. Well wouldn't you know it just when I was getting closer to being done Bethany closed their doors and so I thought also the doors to "My Future" were closed too, not so convenient. Well God does work in mysterious ways. He knew this is what I wanted, He knew I was getting close so he opened up another door (turned on my radio that day) and brought me to William Jessup University. Well as it turns out when I went to the information night I met with many of the staff and a majority of them (all but one) had worked at Bethany when their doors closed. Wow, isn't God great.
So now it is almost time to begin. On April 29th I will begin my first of about 28 classes towards my Business Administration degree. The good part is each class is only 5 weeks long, that bad part is I have to driver over the hill (assuming I won't already be over there for a job) one night a week from 6pm to 10pm. I am not complaining this will be great and God is definitely in it with me and I am going BACK TO MY FUTURE.
P.S. It will now be a race to see who graduates first, me or that little boy who started this journey with me.
