My Inspiration-Or Why I Knew I Could Do It

My enrollment in Southern New Hampshire University began in January, 2009 within the online program. While I had many transfer credits to my name, my departing GPA at UMass prevented me from joining the day program until I proved myself online.  I was 29 years old at the time. For many high school students, it is the social norm to attend college upon graduation. It is not the social norm for 29 year olds to enroll full time on campus. Furthermore, it can be daunting, after all, it had been more than ten years since I graduated high school, and five since I had attended college at UMass, disastrously. So you may be wondering why, after all that time, had I decided to enroll? Well that had a lot to do with my mother, and one really bad boss.

My mother was born in 1954, which makes her 57 years old. She has been a nurse at the Eliott Hospital for my whole life. Back when I was still attending UMass, my mother decided to take a computer literacy class at UNH Manchester. She enjoyed it so much, she took another class, then another, and before we knew it, she was attending full time, and doing well. She didn't let it bother her that most of the students she went to school with were half her age. Se graduated with her BA, and went on to pursue her Ph.D. at the Durham campus.

Meanwhile, I ended up bar tending at a shitty restaurant with a boss who was rude, disrespectful, and just plain mean. He regularly disparaged me and told me that I had no personality. I was fed up. I knew that if I had no real life skills, that I would end up working in a restaurant, being looked down upon by customers and chased around by management for the rest of my life. I decided to make a change, and now here I am, ready to graduate, and interning with a group of very nice people who value me for my skills and abilities, and treat me as an equal deserving of their respect.

This May, not only will I be earning my own BA, my mother will be walking in a ceremony honoring her achievement of Ph.D. Unfortunately, the two ceremonies are being held on the same day, leaving the rest of my family to choose who to support. Let the family fun begin!