January 2015 - Looking Back

    

TONI SAYS, "NEXT YEAR I WANT TO LOOK BACK AND BE PROUD THAT I _____."

LuAnn says, "Next year I want to look back and be proud that I improved my grades."

I first went to college in the summer of 1978, in between my junior and senior years of high school.  It was some sort of "get a taste" of college thing.  The next year in autumn, I entered the University of Utah as a Musical Theatre Major.  I was also painfully shy at the time, and could not bring myself to audition.  (Anyone see trouble on the horizon with that one?)

After a disastrous first year audition, I switched to a 'business' major, much to the relief of my mother.  My heart wasn't in it.  After a year and a half, I dropped out and schlepped about for a few years.  When I returned to college in 1988 or 1989, I majored in Finance at Westminster College of Salt Lake City, graduating in May of 1992 with a BS degree and magna cum laude honors.

Flash forward twenty or so years, and I returned to college at SCC (Somerset Community College) to brush up my skills in preparation for applying to graduate school in Writing and Appalachian Studies.  Several red flags were flapping in my face, but somehow I did not see them.

First, I registered for four (count 'em, FOUR) bi-term classes, where they cram 16 weeks of material into 8 weeks.  

Secondly, my financial aid was delayed since I was a "first-time" borrower and I did not receive funds until 4 weeks into the classes.  So, I tried to do half the speeded-up courses without textbooks.  (Don't do that at home.  It is only for professionals or the truly insane.)

So, I (remember the magna cum laude degree with a 3.7 GPA?),   I am on academic suspension right now.  Ouch!  I could have worked harder but I should have just waited in the first place, or taken one or two classes.  

Anyway, that's not going to happen again.  So I am looking forward to this time next year, when I will have a much better report to give.