Things I have learned as a baby-boomer

My name is Kathy and I am 44 years old. For the past three years, I have been a student at a community college where I received two degrees: one in Office Systems technology and one in Accounting technology. This is a tremendous achievement for a high school dropout. Hopefully, my accomplishments will be an inspiration to others who feel that they are too old to learn new things. I had a great time while attending school, I received a few honors, but most importantly, I made many new friends.

I was very nervous about returning to school because like many people my age, I was afraid that I was too old to learn and that I would never be able to keep up with the students who were fresh out of high school. I was sure that since they were continuing their educational experience then they would be more able to adjust to an unfamiliar environment and were more familiar with the daily routine of classwork and homework. To my surprise, I found that many of the students were not that enthusiastic about their studies anyway and were perfectly satisfied to get by with just a passing grade. As a nontraditional student, I had to wonder why they couldn't realize that with just a minimum of effort they could not only achieve higher grades, but also enjoy the process of extending their knowledge.

I don't think I would have even had the courage to attempt college if my older son was not already a student there. I really don't believe I could have entered into such a different environment without a familiar face nearby. Of course, I was a little apprehensive that he might feel uncomfortable going to school with dear ol' Mom but he surprised me. He walked me to my first class and kissed me at the door before going on to his class. I thought this was such a sweet thing for him to do, and I was very proud that he was not embarrassed to do this in front of other students.

Once I started my classes, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were not as difficult as I had imagined they would be. Since I was already familiar with a computer, these beginning classes proved to be the easier ones, but since I had not studied accounting in high school (which had been 25 years earlier anyway), this was the class that challenged me the most. Even though I had not had any previous training in accounting though, I did soon realize that real life experience was as good a teacher as any even if debits and credits were not part of my everyday vocabulary. I should state that math was not my favorite subject in high school and if I had been required to take College Algebra then my cause would have been hopeless to begin with. Fortunately, real life had also prepared me for Business Math which was basically the same as the general math classes that I remembered from high school. By the time I had finished my first semester with a 4.0 GPA, I began to feel that maybe I would make it after all.

As a technology student, I was eligible for membership in Phi Beta Lambda which is a business organization. I was a bit nervous about joining any organization before I knew how much time I would have to spend on my studies. I didn't want to join just because it would look good on a resume. I didn't really think it would impress prospective employers unless I was an active member. However, I attended all of the meetings and participated in all of the fundraisers.

During the second semester, my instructor suggested that I participate in the competition at the state conference in March in Jackson. Quite frankly, I thought she was out of her mind but I allowed myself to be talked into it. By the time of the convention, I was a nervous wreck. I had always been very bashful and suffered from low self-esteem and I thought there was no way that I could compete with the other students. At the time, I didn't even realize that I would be competing with 4 year colleges as well as community colleges.

I didn't even attend the entire convention but only went for the competition on a Thursday. Imagine my surprise when on Friday afternoon I received a telephone call from one of my instructors telling me that I had placed second in my competition! I was speechless because I had never even entertained the thought that I might place. I was also very excited because I was eligible to compete at the national convention that summer in Orlando. I was going to Disneyworld!

All in all, I would say that my first year of school was very educational, not only academically, but also personally and emotionally. I had proven to myself and others what I was capable of. Even though I had been uncertain at the beginning of the school year, I finished my freshman year with a 4.0 GPA. I was very proud of myself.