I began my college years at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa right after graduating high school in 1988.
Luther was a great private school in the Midwest. I received some scholarships and got the financial aid package that would allow me to attend this school of choice.
At the time I began my freshman year, my family still lived in Ferryville, WI which was only about an hour drive away.
I was a bright eyed freshman that first year. It was a VERY busy year! I began my college career as an Accounting major. (with the intention of joining the FBI one day – it was one of 5 fields recommended to be eligible for consideration)
I was accepted in the Freshman Chorus which was important to me as music was still a big part of my life. Luther was actually very well known for their music department.
I worked a lot my freshman year of college. My financial aid package also included work study on campus, (I worked in the food service department.) and I continued to work nights and weekends at McDonald’s. It was a busy year alright and I also did pretty well with my studies and grades.
As summer neared, I began thinking about finding another fun nanny job for a few months. (I had done this for a summer during my high school days in Columbia, Maryland) As luck would have it, I connected with a professor on campus whose son was looking for a nanny out in Greenwich, Connecticut for the summer months. Thus began what would become my “nanny career”. 😉
It was a wonderful summer! The family had a home in Quogue, NY, so I spent much of the time in the famous Hamptons of Long Island with fun days and nights in New York City. (Wow, this girl was a long way from small town WI!) There were a few girlfriends from Luther there as well and we had a blast! (More on my nanny days in a later post)
I talk about the summer, because it led to my dissatisfaction with going back to Iowa to school. I did go back but I had loved being in New York and started to realize that I did not see myself living in the Midwest for the next 3 years of my life.
I took a leave of absence from Luther that second year of school to head back to CT for a new nanny position.
Not long after that job did not work out, I boarded a plane to head to California to meet up with a friend from high school. She was living in Palm Desert and I had decided to look for a job nannying in Beverly Hills or the Los Angeles area. I was going to be a California girl! WooHoo!
For the next several (10+) years I would work as a nanny in California. This has to do with my education because it became a wonderful way for me to relocate and choose a job that would still allow me to finish college.
I moved around a bit and ended up in southern CA near San Diego. Here I would attend a junior college to get in all of the prerequisite classes that I needed.
I became smart with financing my education and no longer took out loans, opting for more affordable choices in schools.
From Junior College in San Marcos, CA, I would move to San Francisco. Here I landed a wonderful nanny position taking care of two girls that were in school. This allowed me to go to college at San Francisco State University where I did get my bachelor’s degree FINALLY in 1998. Yes, it turns out I had been on the 10 yr plan to get my degree!
I graduated with a degree in Social Science and a minor in Business Administration. Throughout much of my years at SFSU, I really did not see a clear career path, but I did know that I wanted to finish what I had started. If I had to do it over again, would I have done the 10 yrs of struggle to get through classes? After all, I’m not “really” using my degree now. lol I think I learned a lot during that time. I wouldn’t trade it and I did have a great feeling of accomplishment at the end of it all!
So, I do believe in higher education for sure but I don’t believe that holding a degree is the answer for everyone. Especially in today’s economy where it means more than a high school diploma for sure, BUT it definitely does not guarantee employment that way it did once in the past.
Today I believe in education for the sake of learning. I would think more about the goals that are to be met.
For example, I love to invest in my Internet Marketing education. I purchase just what I need to learn advancement within my current goals online.
Ah….the college days. You can bet there are other stories about this time in my life.
For now, we will just leave it at that! 😉
