Saturday, July 20, 2013

Classes then and now

My undergrad school was the University of New England, a small school where the Saco river meets the Atlantic Ocean. Coming from a very small high school in rural Vermont I remember being excited that I could meet a new person every single day and not run out of people to meet by the end of the year. Of course, that was freshman year and people dropped out. Going to class was definitely a chore. Most of my friends were fresh out of High School, like myself and yes they knew they wanted to go to college but didn't have the motivation to really buckle down and do well. Undergrad was unfortunately a $30,000 a year social scene. Yes I went to class, yes I did study, and yes I at the end I got a GPA I was proud of, but something was missing, life experience.

Directly after college I didn't think I would be going back to graduate school. I thought that I was done with school. After 17 years straight of school I was done. I needed a reason to go back, and I just didn't have one. Instead I had drive to check out the world. I went to Africa, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wyoming, California, Montana, Alaska, North Carolina, and probably a few others I forgot to mention. I realized that I really enjoy outdoor environmental education.

After finding a career I was passionate about I found that I was lacking some education, psychology and education courses. I knew I had to go back. I found motivation to return. My courses are coming much easier for me now. I've found that I want to go to class instead of feeling like I'm supposed to go to class. I truly am excited to see what I'm going to learn that day. I also have noticed that my other classmates are equally engaged. Its refreshing to be surrounded by people of like interest who have the same motivational level that you do. Unlike other careers I probably don't need to go back to school to work within my field. Myself and my classmates choose to come back, because we wanted to, that has made all the difference.

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